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      Ocular surface immune transcriptome and tear cytokines in corneal infection patients

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          Abstract

          Background

          Microbial keratitis is one of the leading causes of blindness globally. An overactive immune response during an infection can exacerbate damage, causing corneal opacities and vision loss. This study aimed to identify the differentially expressed genes between corneal infection patients and healthy volunteers within the cornea and conjunctiva and elucidate the contributing pathways to these conditions’ pathogenesis. Moreover, it compared the corneal and conjunctival transcriptomes in corneal-infected patients to cytokine levels in tears.

          Methods

          Corneal and conjunctival swabs were collected from seven corneal infection patients and three healthy controls under topical anesthesia. RNA from seven corneal infection patients and three healthy volunteers were analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Tear proteins were extracted from Schirmer strips via acetone precipitation from 38 cases of corneal infection and 14 healthy controls. The cytokines and chemokines IL-1β, IL-6, CXCL8 (IL-8), CX3CL1, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-17A, and IL-23 were measured using an antibody bead assay.

          Results

          A total of 512 genes were found to be differentially expressed in infected corneas compared to healthy corneas, with 508 being upregulated and four downregulated (fold-change (FC) <−2 or > 2 and adjusted p <0.01). For the conjunctiva, 477 were upregulated, and 3 were downregulated (FC <−3 or ≥ 3 and adjusted p <0.01). There was a significant overlap in cornea and conjunctiva gene expression in patients with corneal infections. The genes were predominantly associated with immune response, regulation of angiogenesis, and apoptotic signaling pathways. The most highly upregulated gene was CXCL8 (which codes for IL-8 protein). In patients with corneal infections, the concentration of IL-8 protein in tears was relatively higher in patients compared to healthy controls but did not show statistical significance.

          Conclusions

          During corneal infection, many genes were upregulated, with most of them being associated with immune response, regulation of angiogenesis, and apoptotic signaling. The findings may facilitate the development of treatments for corneal infections that can dampen specific aspects of the immune response to reduce scarring and preserve sight.

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          Most cited references114

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          Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2

          In comparative high-throughput sequencing assays, a fundamental task is the analysis of count data, such as read counts per gene in RNA-seq, for evidence of systematic changes across experimental conditions. Small replicate numbers, discreteness, large dynamic range and the presence of outliers require a suitable statistical approach. We present DESeq2, a method for differential analysis of count data, using shrinkage estimation for dispersions and fold changes to improve stability and interpretability of estimates. This enables a more quantitative analysis focused on the strength rather than the mere presence of differential expression. The DESeq2 package is available at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/DESeq2.html. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-014-0550-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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            Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data

            Motivation: Although many next-generation sequencing (NGS) read preprocessing tools already existed, we could not find any tool or combination of tools that met our requirements in terms of flexibility, correct handling of paired-end data and high performance. We have developed Trimmomatic as a more flexible and efficient preprocessing tool, which could correctly handle paired-end data. Results: The value of NGS read preprocessing is demonstrated for both reference-based and reference-free tasks. Trimmomatic is shown to produce output that is at least competitive with, and in many cases superior to, that produced by other tools, in all scenarios tested. Availability and implementation: Trimmomatic is licensed under GPL V3. It is cross-platform (Java 1.5+ required) and available at http://www.usadellab.org/cms/index.php?page=trimmomatic Contact: usadel@bio1.rwth-aachen.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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              clusterProfiler: an R package for comparing biological themes among gene clusters.

              Increasing quantitative data generated from transcriptomics and proteomics require integrative strategies for analysis. Here, we present an R package, clusterProfiler that automates the process of biological-term classification and the enrichment analysis of gene clusters. The analysis module and visualization module were combined into a reusable workflow. Currently, clusterProfiler supports three species, including humans, mice, and yeast. Methods provided in this package can be easily extended to other species and ontologies. The clusterProfiler package is released under Artistic-2.0 License within Bioconductor project. The source code and vignette are freely available at http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/clusterProfiler.html.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/2590774Role: Role: Role: Role: Role: Role:
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/410943Role: Role: Role:
                Role: Role:
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/706872Role: Role:
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/715129Role: Role:
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1401535Role: Role:
                URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1404073Role: Role: Role: Role: Role: Role: Role:
                Journal
                Front Cell Infect Microbiol
                Front Cell Infect Microbiol
                Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
                Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                2235-2988
                17 April 2024
                2024
                : 14
                : 1346821
                Affiliations
                [1] 1 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University , Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
                [2] 2 School of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of New South Wales , Sydney, NSW, Australia
                [3] 3 Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, Australia
                [4] 4 Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, Australia
                [5] 5 School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, Australia
                [6] 6 Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London , London, United Kingdom
                Author notes

                Edited by: Poonam Mudgil, Charles Sturt University, Australia

                Reviewed by: Berit Sletbakk Brusletto, Oslo University Hospital, Norway

                Martin James Holland, University of London, United Kingdom

                *Correspondence: Heba Alenezi, hh.alenezi@ 123456psau.edu.sa
                Article
                10.3389/fcimb.2024.1346821
                11061372
                38694515
                db448c60-96e5-49ed-9b5f-4cdd33b51dfc
                Copyright © 2024 Alenezi, Parnell, Schibeci, Ozkan, Willcox, White and Carnt

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 30 November 2023
                : 19 March 2024
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 4, Equations: 0, References: 115, Pages: 15, Words: 8528
                Funding
                The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the 2015 American Optometric Foundation Allergan Foundation Research Grant.
                Categories
                Cellular and Infection Microbiology
                Original Research
                Custom metadata
                Bacteria and Host

                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                corneal infection,conjunctiva,ocular surface,keratitis,bacteria,transcriptome,gene expression

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