Transcriptome analysis of ultraviolet A-induced photoaging cells with deep sequencing

Abstract

Gene expression changes associate with many biological processes. However, the relative consequences of the genetic alterations induced by ultraviolet (UV)-A radiation on skin photoaging are still not clear. Here, we performed deep sequencing of the transcriptome and explored altered genes related to biological changes in repeated UV-A-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) to better understand the skin photoaging mechanisms. The repeatedly UV-A-irradiated group (HDF were induced by 10 J/cm² UV-A twice daily for 7 days) and the control group (HDF without irradiation) were evaluated. Expression genes profile was measured and compared using high-throughput sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform and DEGseq. Functional annotation and metabolic pathway analysis of genes with altered expression were preformed via National Center for Biotechnology Information, Uniprot, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases. Genes related to skin photoaging were verified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Transcriptome comparison revealed that 607 genes exhibited significant changes (P < 0.05), of which 238 genes were upregulated and 369 downregulated in UV-A-irradiated HDF. Functional annotations showed that genes altered by UV-A irradiation took part in a variety of biological process, cellular component synthesis, molecular function and metabolic pathway. Photoaging-related genes encoding elastin, sprout, cathepsin K, cathepsin D, cathepsin B ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase and phosphoglucomutase were identified to be changed. We obtained the comprehensive transcriptome and altered genes in repeated UV-A-irritated HDF and identified that the modulated genes were related to a wide panel of pathways and functions. Our results provide new insights into photoaging molecular mechanisms and suggest some novel targets for interfering in skin photoaging.