Spaceflight modulates gene expression in the whole blood of astronauts
Astronauts are exposed to a unique combination of stressors during spaceflight, which leads to alterations in their physiology and potentially increases their susceptibility to disease, including infectious diseases. To evaluate the potential impact of the spaceflight environment on the regulation o...
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Published in | NPJ microgravity Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 16039 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
08.12.2016
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Astronauts are exposed to a unique combination of stressors during spaceflight, which leads to alterations in their physiology and potentially increases their susceptibility to disease, including infectious diseases. To evaluate the potential impact of the spaceflight environment on the regulation of molecular pathways mediating cellular stress responses, we performed a first-of-its-kind pilot study to assess spaceflight-related gene-expression changes in the whole blood of astronauts. Using an array comprised of 234 well-characterized stress-response genes, we profiled transcriptomic changes in six astronauts (four men and two women) from blood preserved before and immediately following the spaceflight. Differentially regulated transcripts included those important for DNA repair, oxidative stress, and protein folding/degradation, including
HSP90AB1
,
HSP27
,
GPX1
,
XRCC1
,
BAG-1
,
HHR23A
,
FAP48
, and
C-FOS
. No gender-specific differences or relationship to number of missions flown was observed. This study provides a first assessment of transcriptomic changes occurring in the whole blood of astronauts in response to spaceflight. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 These authors contributed equally to this work. Current address: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Ghent University, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, Ghent, Belgium |
ISSN: | 2373-8065 2373-8065 |
DOI: | 10.1038/npjmgrav.2016.39 |