I was wondering, what would be the biggest difference between the gene expression of whole blood and total leukocytes and which cells would be more responsible for this difference in expression?
Hi Leite, you will have to take into account what roles leukocytes play in battling infections.
Neutrophils are the bodies SWAT team and they are loaded with weapons. They swarm infection sites with guns blazing and kill everything in sight. Mast cells release pro-inflammatory cytokines to bring in more neutrophils and monocytes.
Of all of the leukocytes, I think monocytes are the most likely to have major expression differences. They have to morph into macrophages and clean up the mess at infection sites and signal fibroblasts to make a permanent wound matrix.