Gene expression changes in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and human pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells (HPAEpiC) after interaction with Cladosporium sphaerospermum

Cladosporium is one of the most abundant spore. Fungi of this genus can cause respiratory allergy and intrabronchial lesion. We studied the differential expression of host genes after the interaction of Cladosporium sphaerospermum conidia with Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells (BEAS-2B) and Human Pulmonary Alveolar Epithelial Cells (HPAEpiC). C. sphaerospermum conidia were harvested and co-cultured with BEAS-2B cells or HPAEpiC cells for 48 hours respectively. This culture duration was chosen as it was associated with high germination rate. RNA was extracted from two biological replicates per treatment. RNA of BEAS-2B cells was used to assess changes in gene expression using AffymetrixGeneChip® Human Transcriptome Array 2.0. After co-culture with Cladosporium spores, 68 individual genes were found differentially expressed (P ≤ 0.05) and up-regulated ≥ 1.5 folds while 75 genes were found differentially expressed at ≤ -1.5 folds compared with controls. Reverse transcription and qPCR were performed on the RNA collected from both BEAS-2B cells and HPAEpiC cells to validate the microarray results with 7 genes. Based on the findings, infected pulmonary epithelial cells exhibited an increase in cell death-related genes and genes associated with innate immunity.