Sequence biases in large scale gene expression profiling data

We present the results of a simple, statistical assay that measures the G+C content sensitivity bias of gene expression experiments without the requirement of a duplicate experiment. We analyse five gene expression profiling methods: Affymetrix GeneChip, Long Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (LongSAGE), LongSAGELite, ‘Classic’ Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS) and ‘Signature’ MPSS. We demonstrate the methods have systematic and random errors leading to a different G+C content sensitivity. The relationship between this experimental error and the G+C content of the probe set or tag that identifies each gene influences whether the gene is detected and, if detected, the level of gene expression measured. LongSAGE has the least bias, while Signature MPSS shows a strong bias to G+C rich tags and Affymetrix data show different bias depending on the data processing method (MAS 5.0, RMA or GC-RMA). The bias in the Affymetrix data primarily impacts genes expressed at lower levels. Despite the larger sampling of the MPSS library, SAGE identifies significantly more genes (60% more RefSeq genes in a single comparison)

LongSAGE profiling of nine human embryonic stem cell lines

Analysis of a 2.6 million longSAGE sequence tag resource generated from nine human embryonic stem cell lines reveals an enrichment of RNA binding proteins and novel ES-specific transcripts

Present state and future perspectives of using pluripotent stem cells in toxicology research

The use of novel drugs and chemicals requires reliable data on their potential toxic effects on humans. Current test systems are mainly based on animals or in vitro–cultured animal-derived cells and do not or not sufficiently mirror the situation in humans. Therefore, in vitro models based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have become an attractive alternative. The article summarizes the characteristics of pluripotent stem cells, including embryonic carcinoma and embryonic germ cells, and discusses the potential of pluripotent stem cells for safety pharmacology and toxicology. Special attention is directed to the potential application of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for the assessment of developmental toxicology as well as cardio- and hepatotoxicology. With respect to embryotoxicology, recent achievements of the embryonic stem cell test (EST) are described and current limitations as well as prospects of embryotoxicity studies using pluripotent stem cells are discussed. Furthermore, recent efforts to establish hPSC-based cell models for testing cardio- and hepatotoxicity are presented. In this context, methods for differentiation and selection of cardiac and hepatic cells from hPSCs are summarized, requirements and implications with respect to the use of these cells in safety pharmacology and toxicology are presented, and future challenges and perspectives of using hPSCs are discussed