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Data Note
Revised

A curated compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets of relevance to human monocyte immunobiology research

[version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
Previously titled: A compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets to foster biomedical knowledge discovery
PUBLISHED 25 Apr 2016
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This article is included in the Data: Use and Reuse collection.

Abstract

Systems-scale profiling approaches have become widely used in translational research settings. The resulting accumulation of large-scale datasets in public repositories represents a critical opportunity to promote insight and foster knowledge discovery. However, resources that can serve as an interface between biomedical researchers and such vast and heterogeneous dataset collections are needed in order to fulfill this potential. Recently, we have developed an interactive data browsing and visualization web application, the Gene Expression Browser (GXB). This tool can be used to overlay deep molecular phenotyping data with rich contextual information about analytes, samples and studies along with ancillary clinical or immunological profiling data. In this note, we describe a curated compendium of 93 public datasets generated in the context of human monocyte immunological studies, representing a total of 4,516 transcriptome profiles. Datasets were uploaded to an instance of GXB along with study description and sample annotations. Study samples were arranged in different groups. Ranked gene lists were generated based on relevant group comparisons. This resource is publicly available online at http://monocyte.gxbsidra.org/dm3/landing.gsp.

Keywords

Monocyte, Transcriptomics, Gene Expression Browser, Immunology, Bioinformatics

Revised Amendments from Version 1

Per reviewers' comments we added background information about the subject matter (monocyte immunobiology), as well as details regarding the dataset selection and curation process. Figures 2 and 3 were also updated. The table orientation was changed, and we have also updated the title of this article.

See the authors' detailed response to the review by Ping Chen and David Kuo

Introduction

Platforms such as microarrays and, more recently, next generation sequencing have been leveraged to generate molecular profiles at the scale of entire systems. The global perspective gained using such approaches is potentially transformative. Transcriptome profiling enabled for instance the characterization of molecular perturbations that occur in the context of a wide range disease processes110. This in turn has provided opportunities for the discovery of biomarkers and for the development of novel therapeutic modalities3,1113. More recently such systems-scale profiling of the blood transcriptome has also been used to monitor response to vaccines or therapeutic drugs1419. The democratization of these approaches has led to proliferation of data in public repositories: over 1.7 million individual transcriptome profiles from more than 65,000 studies have been deposited to date in the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), a public repository of transcriptome profiles.

Taken together this vast body of “collective data” holds the promise of accelerating the pace of biomedical discovery by creating countless opportunities for identifying and filling critical knowledge gaps. Building tools that provide biomedical researchers with the ability to seamlessly interact with collections of datasets along with rich contextual information is essential in promoting insight and enabling knowledge discovery. To address this need we have developed an interactive data browsing and visualization web application, the Gene Expression Browser (GXB).

GXB was described in a recent publication and is available as open source software on GitHub20. This tool constitutes a simple interface for the browsing and interactive visualization of large volumes of heterogeneous data. Users can easily customize data plots by adding multiple layers of information, modifying the order of samples, and generating links that capture these settings, which can be inserted in email communications or in publications. Accessing the tool via these links also provides access to rich contextual information that is essential for data interpretation. This includes access to gene information and relevant literature, study design information, detailed sample information as well as ancillary data20.

In recent years, a large number of transcriptional studies have been conducted aiming at the characterization and functional classification of monocytes in health and disease. Monocytes are a population of immune cells found in the blood, bone marrow, and spleen. They constitute ~10% of the total circulating blood leukocytes in humans. They can remain in the blood circulation for up to 1–2 days, after which time, if they have not been recruited to a tissue, they die and are removed. They are considered the systemic reservoir of myeloid precursors for renewal of tissue macrophages and dendritic cells. Monocytes play a key role during immune response as professional phagocytes21,22, and producers of immune mediators23,24. Indeed, reports show that monocytes are recruited at the site of infections as innate effectors of the inflammatory response to microbes, killing pathogens via phagocytosis, production of reactive oxygen intermediate (ROIs)25, reactive nitrogen intermediate (RNIs)26,27, myeloperoxidase (MPO)28,29, and producing inflammatory cytokines30 that contribute to further amplifying the antimicrobial response31.

Human monocytes are derived from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and are released into peripheral blood circulation upon maturation. They are divided into three major subsets based on the expression of the cell surface markers CD14 and CD16. The most prevalent subset in the blood circulation, accounting for 90% of all monocytes, are the classical monocytes that express high levels of CD14 but low levels of CD16 (CD14++CD16-). The remaining 10% is divided into two subsets: intermediate monocytes with high expression of CD14 and CD16 (CD14++CD16+ or CD14+CD16+) and non-classical monocytes that express low levels of CD14 but high levels of CD16 (CD14dimCD16++ or CD14-CD16++)3234. The factors that govern the migration of monocytes and roles that each subset plays during disease processes are not well understood. 1) In autoimmune diseases: Non-classical monocytes are regarded as crucial effectors in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis35, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)36 and multiple sclerosis37. This monocyte subset carries a distinct inflammatory signature in patients with SLE36. Classical monocytes on the other hand have been shown to dominate the inflamed mucosa in Crohn’s disease38. Skewing of monocytes towards the intermediate subset has been observed in patients with autoimmune uveitis and linked to administration of glucocorticoid therapy39. 2) In cardiovascular diseases: circulating monocytes play a pivotal role by releasing cocktails of cytokines, factor and proteases that are involved in vascular growth40. Monocyte subsets show functional and phenotypic changes in cardiovascular diseases. The accumulation of classical monocytes is for instance a hallmark of progression of atherosclerosis4143. An association between intermediate monocytes and cardiovascular events has also been documented with this monocyte subset being proportionally elevated following myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation44,45 or in at risk subjects46. 3) In cancer: Intermediate monocytes are viewed as potential diagnostic indicators for colorectal cancer47. Another study has shown that elevated abundance of intermediate monocytes is associated with survival of adult or childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia48. The changes of gene expression profiles in monocytes reveal high specificity for the tissue type and cancer histotype, and are induced in response to soluble factors released by the cancer cells in the primary or metastatic site49. Moreover, monocytes, comprising the monocyte-myeloid-derived suppressor cells population, from patients with metastatic breast cancer resemble the reprogrammed immunosuppressive monocytes in patients with severe infections, both by their surface and functional phenotype but also by their gene expression profile50. This signature of immunosuppression could therefore constitute a good biomarker for assessing disease progression. 4) In infections: monocytes are also key players in the immediate immune response to infectious agents as well as the subsequent development of the adaptive immune response51. Given the importance of classical and intermediate monocytes in pathogenesis of infectious and other inflammatory disorders, delineation of their functional and phenotypic characteristics has been studied extensively. The response mounted by classical monocytes has emerged as being critical for the control of a wide range of infectious diseases, including infections caused by bacteria5257, parasites58 and fungi59. In contrast, intermediate monocytes have been associated with pathologic immune responses against bacteria60,61 and parasites62. In the context of HIV infection; CD14 expression is reduced on classical monocytes in chronically HIV-1 infected adults on anti-retroviral therapy63,64. Moreover, loss of CCR2 expressing non-classical monocytes is associated with cognitive impairment in antiretroviral therapy-naïve infected subjects65 . Altogether these findings indicate that monocytes are more than circulating precursors and have different effector functions in response to various infections and during inflammation. Clearly furthering our understanding of the role of monocyte subsets in health and disease will require many more studies, also we hope that the dataset compendium that we are making available to the research community via this publication can help support these endeavors.

In this data note we are making available via GXB a curated compendium of 93 public datasets relevant to human monocyte immunobiology, representing a total of 4,516 transcriptome profiles.

Materials and methods

Identification of monocyte datasets

Potentially relevant datasets deposited in GEO were identified using an advanced query based on the Bioconductor package GEOmetadb and the SQLite database that captures detailed information on the GEO data structure; https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/GEOmetadb.html66. The search query was designed to retrieve entries where the title and description contained the word Monocyte OR Monocytes, were generated from human samples, using Illumina or Affymetrix commercial platforms. The query result is appended with rich metadata from GEOmetadb that allows for manual filtering of the retrieved collection.

The relevance of each entry returned by this query was assessed individually. This process involved reading through the descriptions and examining the list of available samples and their annotations. Sometimes it was also necessary to review the original published report in which the design of the study and generation of the dataset is described in more detail. Using the search query, the results also returned a number of datasets that did not include profiles of monocytes but instead of “monocyte-derived dendritic cells” or “monocyte-derived macrophages”. During our manual screen these were excluded as were studies employing monocytic cell lines. Only studies including primary human monocyte profiles were retained. The datasets cover a broad range of studies investigating human monocyte immunobiology in the context of diseases and through comparison with diverse cell populations and study types as illustrated by a graphical representation of relative occurrences of terms in the descriptions of the studies loaded into our tool (Figure 1). A wide range of cell types and diseases are represented. Ultimately, the collection was comprised of 93 curated datasets. It includes datasets generated from studies profiling primary human CD14+ cells isolated from patients with autoimmune diseases (7), bacterial, virus and parasite infections (7), cancer (4), cardiovascular diseases (4), kidney diseases (4), as well as monocytes isolated from healthy subjects (58) (Figure 2). The 58 datasets in which monocytes were isolated from healthy subjects were classified based on whether profiling was conducted ex vivo or following in vitro experiments. In total 38 datasets were identified in which primary human CD14+ cells were stimulated or infected in in vitro experiments (Figure 2). Among the many noteworthy datasets, there are 8 datasets investigating differences between monocytes subsets; classical (CD14++CD16-), intermediate (CD14+CD16+) and non-classical monocytes (CD14-CD16++)3234 [GXB: GSE16836, GSE18565, GSE25913, GSE34515, GSE35457, GSE51997, GSE60601, GSE66936]. Another dataset from Banchereau and colleagues investigated responses of monocyte and dendritic cells to 13 different vaccines in vitro67 [GXB: GSE44721]. The datasets that comprise our collection are listed in Table 1 and can be browsed interactively in GXB.

3da0d3ae-8c1a-4c9a-83b1-b451bcc77420_figure1.gif

Figure 1. Thematic composition of the dataset collection.

Word frequencies extracted from text descriptions of the studies loaded into the GXB tool are depicted as a word cloud. The size of the words is proportional to their frequency.

3da0d3ae-8c1a-4c9a-83b1-b451bcc77420_figure2.gif

Figure 2. Break down of the dataset collection by category.

The pie chart on the left panel indicates dataset frequencies by disease status. The chart on the right panel indicates the type of studies carried out for the 58 datasets consisting of monocyte obtained exclusively from healthy donors.

Table 1. List of datasets constituting the collection.

TitlePlatformsDiseasesNumber
of
samples
ExperimentsGEO IDRef
Interaction of bone marrow stroma and monocytes: bone marrow stromal
cell lines cultured with monocytes
AffymetrixHealthy8 In vitro GSE10595 68
Monocyte gene expression profiling in familial combined hyperlipidemia and
its modification by atorvastatin treatment
AffymetrixFamilial combined
hyperlipidemia
9 In vitro GSE11393 69
Performance comparison of Affymetrix and Illumina microarray technologies AffymetrixAcute coronary syndrome10 Ex vivo GSE11430 70
Gene expression profiling in pediatric meningococcal sepsis reveals
dynamic changes in NK-cell and cytotoxic molecules
AffymetrixMeningococcal sepsis41 Ex vivo GSE11755 N/A
Effect of interferon-gamma on macrophage differentiation and response to
Toll-like receptor ligands
AffymetrixHealthy10 In vitro GSE11864 71
Human monocyte and dendritic Cell Subtype Gene Arrays AffymetrixHealthy8 Ex vivo GSE11943 72
Microarray analysis of human monocytes infected with Francisella tularensis AffymetrixHealthy14 In vitro GSE12108 73
Human blood monocyte profile in Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia patients AffymetrixPneumonia60 Ex vivo GSE12838 N/A
Quercetin supplementation and CD14+ monocyte gene expression AffymetrixHealthy6 Ex vivo GSE13899 74
Effects of PMN-Ectosomes on human macrophages AffymetrixHealthy16 In vitro GSE14419 N/A
Homogeneous monocytes and macrophages from hES cells following
coculture-free differentiation in M-CSF and IL-3
AffymetrixHealthy9 Ex vivo GSE15791 75
Expression data from human macrophages AffymetrixHealthy38 In vitro GSE16385 76
Transcriptional profiling of CD16+ and CD16- peripheral blood monocytes
from healthy individuals
AffymetrixHealthy8 Ex vivo GSE16836 32
COPD-Specific Gene Expression Signatures of Alveolar Macrophages
as well as Peripheral Blood Monocytes Overlap and Correlate with Lung
Function
AffymetrixChronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease
12 Ex vivo GSE16972 77
Loss-of-function mutations in REP-1 affect intracellular vesicle transport in
fibroblasts and monocytes of CHM patients
AffymetrixChoroideremia15 Ex vivo GSE17549 78
Effect of two weeks erythropoietin treatment on monocyte transcriptomes of
cardiorenal patients
IlluminaCardiorenal syndrome48 Ex vivo GSE17582 N/A
Comparison of gene expression profiles between human monocyte subsets AffymetrixHealthy6 Ex vivo GSE18565 79
Subpopulations of CD163 positive macrophages are classically activated in
psoriasis
Illumina Psoriasis58 Ex vivo GSE18686 80
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Chaperonin 60.1 has Bipolar Effects on Human
peripheral blood-derived Monocytes
AffymetrixHealthy21 In vitro GSE18794 N/A
Blood Transcriptional Profiles of Active TB (Separated cell) IlluminaTuberculosis44 Ex vivo GSE19443 11
Filaria induced monocyte dysfunction and its reversal following treatment AffymetrixFilariasis14 Ex vivo GSE2135 81
Ubiquinol-induced gene expression signatures are translated into reduced
erythropoiesis and LDL cholesterol levels in humans
AffymetrixHealthy6 Ex vivo GSE21351 82
Monocyte vs Macrophage Study AffymetrixHealthy6 In vitro GSE22373 83
Monocyte gene expression patterns distinguish subjects with and without
atherosclerosis
IlluminaCarotid atherosclerosis95 Ex vivo GSE23746 N/A
Deconvoluting Early Post-Transplant Immunity Using Purified Cell Subsets
Reveals Functional Networks Not Evident by Whole Blood Analysis
AffymetrixKidney Transplantation179 Ex vivo GSE24223 84
Cooperative and redundant signaling of leukotriene B4 and leukotriene D4
in human monocytes
AffymetrixHealthy10 In vitro GSE24869 85
Gene expression profiling of the classical (CD14++CD16-), intermediate
(CD14++CD16+) and nonclassical (CD14+CD16+) human monocyte
subsets
IlluminaHealthy24 Ex vivo GSE25913 34
Direct Cell Conversion of Human Fibroblasts to Monocytic phagocytes by
Forced Expression of Monocytic Regulatory Network Elements
Illumina Dermatomyositis15 Ex vivo GSE27304 N/A
cMyb and vMyb in human monocytes AffymetrixHealthy6 In vitro GSE2816 86
Temporal transcriptional changes in human monocytes following acute
myocardial infarction: The GerMIFs monocyte expression study
IlluminaAcute myocardial infarction76 Ex vivo GSE28454 N/A
mRNA expression profiling of human immune cell subset (Roche) AffymetrixHealthy47 Ex vivo GSE28490 87
mRNA expression profiling of human immune cell subsets (HUG) AffymetrixHealthy33 Ex vivo GSE28491 87
Changes in gene expression profiles in patients with 5q- syndrome in
CD14+ monocytes caused by lenalidomide treatment
Illumina5q- syndrome17 Ex vivo GSE31460 N/A
Genome-wide analysis of lupus immune complex stimulation of purified
CD14+ monocytes and how this response is regulated by C1q
IlluminaHealthy8 In vitro GSE32278 88
Transcriptome analysis of circulating monocytes in obese patients before
and three months after bariatric surgery
IlluminaObesity48 Ex vivo GSE32575 89
CD4 on human monocytes AffymetrixHealthy6 In vitro GSE32939 90
Peripheral Blood Monocyte Gene Expression in Recent-Onset Type 1
Diabetes
IlluminaType 1 Diabetes22 Ex vivo GSE33440 91
Traffic-related Particulate Matter Upregulates Allergic Responses by a
Notch-pathway Dependent Mechanism
AffymetrixHealthy16 In vitro GSE34025 N/A
Human monocyte activation with NOD2L vs. TLR2/1L AffymetrixHealthy45 In vitro GSE34156 92
Bacillus anthracis' lethal toxin induces broad transcriptional responses in
human peripheral monocyte
AffymetrixHealthy8 In vitro GSE34407 93
Gene expression profiles of human blood classical monocytes
(CD14++CD16-), CD16 positive monocytes (CD14+16++ and
CD14++CD16+), and CD1c+ CD19- dendritic cells
AffymetrixHealthy9 Ex vivo GSE34515 N/A
Genome-wide analysis of monocytes and T cells' response to interferon
beta
IlluminaHealthy12 In vitro GSE34627 94
Highly pathogenic influenza virus inhibit Inflammatory Responses in
Monocytes via Activation of the Rar-Related Orphan Receptor Alpha
(RORalpa)
AffymetrixHealthy12 In vitro GSE35283 N/A
Transcriptome profiles of human monocyte and dendritic cell subsets IlluminaHealthy49 Ex vivo GSE35457 95
Influenza virus A infected monocytes IlluminaHealthy6 In vitro GSE35473 96
PGE2-induced OSM expression AffymetrixChronic wound6 Ex vivo GSE36995 97
Inflammatory Expression Profiles in Monocyte to Macrophage Differentiation
amongst Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Healthy Controls
with and without an Atherosclerosis Phenotype
IlluminaSystemic lupus
erythematosus
72 Ex vivo GSE37356 N/A
New insights into key genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of
HLA-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis
AffymetrixAcute anterior uveitis6 In vitro GSE37588 N/A
Analysis of blood myelomonocytic cells from RCC patients IlluminaRenal cell carcinoma8 Ex vivo GSE38424 98
Nanotoxicogenomic study of ZnO and TiO2 responses Illumina Healthy90 In vitro GSE39316 N/A
Macrophage Microvesicles Induce Macrophage Differentiation and miR-223
Transfer
AffymetrixHealthy24 In vitro GSE41889 99
TREM-1 is a novel therapeutic target in Psoriasis AffymetrixPsoriasis15 In vitro GSE42305 100
Comparison study between Uremic patient with Healthy control AffymetrixChronic kidney disease6 Ex vivo GSE43484 N/A
Microarray analysis of IL-10 stimulated adherent peripheral blood
mononuclear cells
AffymetrixHealthy8 In vitro GSE43700 101
Monocytes and Dendritic cells stimulated by 13 human vaccines and LPS IlluminaVaccination128 In vitro GSE44721 67
Gene expression profile of human monocytes stimulated with all-trans
retinoic acid (ATRA) or 1,25a-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3)
AffymetrixHealthy12 In vitro GSE46268 102
Transcriptome analysis of blood monocytes from sepsis patients IlluminaSepsis44 Ex vivo GSE46955 103
Tumor-educated circulating monocytes are powerful specific biomarkers for
diagnosis of colorectal cancer
IlluminaColorectal Cancer93 Ex vivo GSE47756 49
Similarities and differences between macrophage polarized gene profiles Illumina Healthy12 In vitro GSE49240 104
The effect of cell subset isolation method on gene expression in leukocytes. IlluminaHealthy50 Ex vivo GSE50008 N/A
Transcriptome analysis of HIV-infected peripheral blood monocytes IlluminaHIV86 Ex vivo GSE50011 105
Gene expression profiles in T-lymphocytes and Monocytes of participants of
the Tour de France 2005
AffymetrixHealthy66 Ex vivo GSE5105 N/A
Effects of exercise on gene expression level in human monocytes AffymetrixHealthy24 Ex vivo GSE51835 106
T helper lymphocyte- and monocyte-specific type I interferon (IFN)
signatures in autoimmunity and viral infection.
AffymetrixAutoimmune diseases36 Ex vivo GSE51997 107
Longitudinal comparison of monocytes from an HIV viremic vs avirmeic
state
AffymetrixHIV16 Ex vivo GSE5220 108
Expression data from monocytes and monocyte derived macrophages AffymetrixHealthy12 In vitro GSE52647 N/A
Transcriptome analysis of primary monocytes from HIV+ patients with
differential responses to therapy
IlluminaHIV14 Ex vivo GSE52900 109
Human blood monocyte response to IL-17A in culture AffymetrixHealthy6 In vitro GSE54884 N/A
Divergent genome wide transcriptional profiles from immune cell subsets
isolated from SLE patients with different ancestral backgrounds
IlluminaSystemic lupus
erythematosus
208 Ex vivo GSE55447 110
Cell Specific Expression & Pathway Analyses Reveal Novel Alterations in
Trauma-Related Human T-Cell & Monocyte Pathways
AffymetrixTrauma patients42 Ex vivo GSE5580 111
Immune Variation Project (ImmVar) [CD14] AffymetrixHealthy485 Ex vivo GSE56034 N/A
Transcriptomics of human monocytes IlluminaHealthy1202 Ex vivo GSE56045 112
Effect of vitamin D treatment on human monocyte AffymetrixHealthy16 In vitro GSE56490 NA
Monocytes of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia show alterations in
cholesterol metabolism
AffymetrixHypercholesterolemia23 Ex vivo GSE6054 113
Gene expression data from CD14++ CD16- classical monocytes from
healthy volunteers and patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
AffymetrixPancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma
12 Ex vivo GSE60601 N/A
Activation of the JAK/STAT pathway in Behcet's Disease AffymetrixBehcet’s Disease29 Ex vivo GSE61399 N/A
Alarmins MRP8 and MRP14 induce stress-tolerance in phagocytes under
sterile inflammatory conditions
IlluminaSterile Inflammation12 In vitro GSE61477 N/A
GM-CSF induced gene-regulation in human monocytes AffymetrixHealthy6 In vitro GSE63662 114
Treatment of human monocytes with TLR7 or TLR8 agonists AffymetrixHealthy9 In vitro GSE64480 115
Restricted Dendritic Cell and Monocyte Progenitors in Human Cord Blood
and Bone Marrow
IlluminaHealthy36 Ex vivo GSE65128 116
Interleukin-1- and Type I Interferon-Dependent Enhanced Immunogenicity
of an NYVAC-HIV-1 Env-Gag-Pol-Nef Vaccine Vector with Dual Deletions of
Type I and Type II Interferon-Binding Proteins
Illumina Vaccination20 In vitro GSE65412 NA
Comparative analysis of monocytes from healthy donors, patients with
metastatic breast cancer, sepsis or tuberculosis.
IlluminaBreast cancer and Bacterial
infection
13 Ex vivo GSE65517 50
Expression data from intermediate monocytes from healthy donors and
autoimmune uveitis patients
AffymetrixAutoimmune uveitis21 Ex vivo GSE66936 39
Induction of Dendritic Cell-like Phenotype in Macrophages during Foam Cell
Formation
AffymetrixHealthy22 In vitro GSE7138 117
Genome Wide Gene Expression Study of Circulating Monocytes in human
with extremely high vs. low bone mass
AffymetrixHealthy26 Ex vivo GSE7158 N/A
Genomic profiles for human peripheral blood T cells, B cells, natural killer
cells, monocytes, and polymorphonuclear cells: comparisons to ischemic
stroke, migraine, and Tourette syndrome
AffymetrixHealthy18 Ex vivo GSE72642 118
Expression data from monocytes of individuals with different collateral flow
index CFI
AffymetrixCoronary artery disease160 Ex vivo GSE7638 39
Leukotriene D4 induces gene expression in human monocytes through
cysteinyl leukotriene type I receptor
AffymetrixHealthy8 In vitro GSE7807 119
Gene expression profile during monocytes to macrophage differentiation AffymetrixHealthy9 In vitro GSE8286 N/A
Toll-like receptor triggering of a vitamin D-mediated human antimicrobial
response
AffymetrixHealthy50 In vitro GSE8921 120
TRAIL Is a Novel Antiviral Protein against Dengue Virus AffymetrixDengue10 In vitro GSE9378 NA
Gene Expression-Based High Throughput Screening: APL Treatment with
Candidate Compounds
AffymetrixLeukemia24 Ex vivo GSE976 121
Innate immune responses to TREM-1 activation AffymetrixHealthy11 In vitro GSE9988 122

Dataset upload and annotation on GXB

Once a final selection was made each dataset was downloaded from GEO in the SOFT file format. It was in turn uploaded on an instance of the Gene Expression Browser (GXB) hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud. Available sample and study information were also uploaded. Samples were grouped according to possible interpretations of study results and ranking based on the different group comparisons that were computed (e.g. comparing monocyte isolated from case vs controls in studies where profiling was performed ex-vivo; or stimulated vs medium control in in vitro experiments).

Short Gene Expression Brower tutorial

The GXB software has been described in detail in a recent publication20. This custom software interface provides users with a means to easily navigate and filter the dataset collection available at http://monocyte.gxbsidra.org/dm3/landing.gsp. A web tutorial is also available online: http://monocyte.gxbsidra.org/dm3/tutorials.gsp#gxbtut. Briefly, datasets of interest can be quickly identified either by filtering using criteria from pre-defined lists on the left or by entering a query term in the search box at the top of the dataset navigation page. Clicking on one of the studies listed in the dataset navigation page opens a viewer designed to provide interactive browsing and graphic representations of large-scale data in an interpretable format. This interface is designed to present ranked gene lists and display expression results graphically in a context-rich environment. Selecting a gene from the rank ordered list on the left of the data-viewing interface will display its expression values graphically in the screen’s central panel. Directly above the graphical display drop down menus give users the ability: a) To change how the gene list is ranked; this allows the user to change the method used to rank the genes, or to include only genes that are selected for specific biological interest; b) To change sample grouping (Group Set button), in some datasets a user can switch between groups based on cell type to groups based on disease type, for example; c) To sort individual samples within a group based on associated categorical or continuous variables (e.g. gender or age); d) To toggle between the bar chart view and a box plot view, with expression values represented as a single point for each sample. Samples are split into the same groups whether displayed as a bar chart or box plot; e) To provide a color legend for the sample groups; f) To select categorical information that is to be overlaid at the bottom of the graph. For example, the user can display gender or treatment status in this manner; g) To provide a color legend for the categorical information overlaid at the bottom of the graph; and h) To download the graph as a png image or csv file for performing a separate analysis. Measurements have no intrinsic utility in absence of contextual information. It is this contextual information that makes the results of a study or experiment interpretable. It is therefore important to capture, integrate and display information that will give users the ability to interpret data and gain new insights from it. We have organized this information under different tabs directly above the graphical display. The tabs can be hidden to make more room for displaying the data plots, or revealed by clicking on the blue “show info panel” button on the top right corner of the display. Information about the gene selected from the list on the left side of the display is available under the “Gene” tab. Information about the study is available under the “Study” tab. Information available about individual samples is provided under the “Sample” tab. Rolling the mouse cursor over a bar chart's element while displaying the “Sample” tab lists any clinical, demographic, or laboratory information available for the selected sample. Finally, the “Downloads” tab allows advanced users to retrieve the original dataset for analysis outside this tool. It also provides all available sample annotation data for use alongside the expression data in third party analysis software. Other functionalities are provided under the “Tools” drop-down menu located in the top right corner of the user interface. Some of the notable functionalities available through this menu include: a) Annotations, which provides access to all the ancillary information about the study, samples and dataset organized across different tabs; b) Cross-project view, which provides the ability for a given gene to browse through all available studies; c) Copy link, which generates a mini-URL encapsulating information about the display settings in use and that can be saved and shared with others (clicking on the envelope icon on the toolbar inserts the url in an email message via the local email client); and d) Chart options, which gives user the option to customize chart labels.

Dataset validation

Quality control checks were performed with the examination of profiles of relevant biological indicators. Known leukocyte markers were used, such as CD14, which is expressed by monocytes and macrophages; as well as markers that would indicate significant contamination of the sample by other leukocyte populations: such as CD3, a T-cells marker; CD19, a B-cell marker; CD56, an NK cell marker (Figure 3; The expression of the CD14 marker across all studies can be checked using the cross project functionality of GXB: http://monocyte.gxbsidra.org/dm3/geneBrowser/crossProject?probeID=201743_at&geneSymbol=CD14&geneID=929). We have systematically verified that expression of the genes encoding those surface markers was consistent with grouping labels provided by depositors. In addition, expression of the XIST transcripts, in which expression is gender-specific, was also examined to determine its concordance with demographic information provided with the GEO submission (expression of XIST should be high in females and low in males).

3da0d3ae-8c1a-4c9a-83b1-b451bcc77420_figure3.gif

Figure 3. Illustrative example showing the abundance levels of CD14 transcripts across samples in a given study.

The expression of this gene is indicative of the purity of primary human monocyte preparation; this marker is expected to be high in monocyte preparations and low in other leukocyte populations. In this view of the GXB expression of CD14 can be visualized across projects listed on the left.

Data availability

All datasets included in our curated collection are also available publically via the NCBI GEO website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/; and are referenced throughout the manuscript by their GEO accession numbers (e.g. GSE25913). Signal files and sample description files can also be downloaded from the GXB tool under the “downloads” tab.

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Rinchai D, Boughorbel S, Presnell S et al. A curated compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets of relevance to human monocyte immunobiology research [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2016, 5:291 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.8182.2)
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Reviewer Report 03 May 2016
Ping Chen, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health, Besthesda, MD, USA 
David Kuo, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA;  University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA 
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Chen P and Kuo D. Reviewer Report For: A curated compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets of relevance to human monocyte immunobiology research [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2016, 5:291 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.9108.r13544)
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Reviewer Report 21 Mar 2016
Ping Chen, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health, Besthesda, MD, USA 
David Kuo, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA;  University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 38
General Comments
 
Modern genomics, especially with the emergence of high-throughput next-generation sequencing, is generating data at such a rapid rate that new tools for organizing, visualizing, sharing, and integrating heterogeneous data in the context of scientific information are needed for scientists ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Chen P and Kuo D. Reviewer Report For: A curated compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets of relevance to human monocyte immunobiology research [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2016, 5:291 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.8800.r12769)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 25 Apr 2016
    Darawan Rinchai, Systems Biology Department, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Doha, Qatar
    25 Apr 2016
    Author Response
    We thank the reviewers for their valuable feedback and suggestions to improve our manuscript.

    Title: 
    Following the suggestion of the reviewers we changed the title of the manuscript to “A curated compendium ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 25 Apr 2016
    Darawan Rinchai, Systems Biology Department, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Doha, Qatar
    25 Apr 2016
    Author Response
    We thank the reviewers for their valuable feedback and suggestions to improve our manuscript.

    Title: 
    Following the suggestion of the reviewers we changed the title of the manuscript to “A curated compendium ... Continue reading
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31
Cite
Reviewer Report 16 Mar 2016
Marc Pellegrini, Division of Infection and Immunity, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, VIC, Australia 
Approved
VIEWS 31
In this short descriptive report the authors put their published Gene Expression Browser tool to work in arranging several thousand transcriptome profiles obtained from public datasets that looked at monocyte immunology. They were able to compare groups of monocytes based ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Pellegrini M. Reviewer Report For: A curated compendium of monocyte transcriptome datasets of relevance to human monocyte immunobiology research [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2016, 5:291 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.8800.r12768)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.

Comments on this article Comments (0)

Version 2
VERSION 2 PUBLISHED 07 Mar 2016
Comment
Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
Approved - the paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations - A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approved - fundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
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