Diagnostic Microarray Test Based on Comparative Studies of Gene Expression in Humans with Common Inflammatory and Infectious Diseases

In order to assure accurate detection of exposure to biological warfare agents or any environmental agents, it is necessary to exclude a variety of common conditions that may confound proper diagnosis. Many groups, including ours , have found that biological warfare agents can stimulate inflammatory systems, the same systems found stimulated in common inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease or ankylosing spondylitis. In order to create an accurate diagnostic tool, it is therefore necessary to define the changes in gene expression that are characteristic of these common inflammatory diseases in clinically accessible tissue (such as peripheral blood) and compare them with the genetic expression level changes characteristic of exposure to biological warfare agents. The database of genes that make this distinction most effectively will be used in the creation of a practical diagnostic test. The addition of the work proposed herein to our existing projects will result in complete expression databases for rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis C and ankylosing spondylitis. This will allow for the creation of a straightforward test reflecting only the gene expression changes indicative of exposure to particular biological warfare agents or existing inflammatory conditions