GEO series

Sex-specific transcriptional differences in Gulf War Illness patients under stressful conditions

GSE286345 Homo sapiens (human) RNA-seq (gene expression) 242 samples Submitted 2025/04/30 Platform GPL21290Platform GPL18573

At a glance

RNA-seq (gene expression) · human · 242 samples

What it is: RNA-seq (gene expression)Gene activity measured by sequencing. The summary does not mention single-cell work, so this is most likely bulk: one average per sample, the usual starting point for comparing groups.
Organism: Homo sapiens (human)
Samples: 242 samples
Data you can get: A processed table (series matrix) and supplementary files from NCBI; the raw sequencing reads from ENA. Which of these hold counts depends on the study, so check the file list.

Summary (written by the submitters)

Background Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a severely debilitating condition with chronic symptoms affecting up to 30% of the veterans deployed to the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. The symptoms associated with GWI include fatigue, musculoskeletal/joint pain and disturbances of multiple organ systems. The mechanisms of GWI are unknown, although the symptoms suggest that GWI is most likely caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and it’s interaction with environmental factors such as exposure to toxic chemicals.

Read the full summary ↓

Objectives This research project aims to assess how sex differences in individuals with GWI impact their response to stress, specifically through an exercise challenge. Additionally, it highlights the importance of considering sex differences in the diagnosis and treatment of GWI. Methods We utilized RNA-seq to examine the differential gene expression (GE) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 24 female GWI patients, 20 male GWI patients, and 40 healthy controls (HC) who were matched in for sex, age, and BMI. We evaluated the gene expression changes at three time points: T0 (baseline), T1 (at maximal exertion), and T2 (4 hours into recovery after T1). To ensure consistency, we excluded genes located on the sex chromosomes and performed separate analyses for men and women. Our focus was to compare the response to exercise within each group (GWI patients and HC) between different time points. Results In the male GWI cohort, pathways associated with immune system process, particularly IL-12, and natural killer cell cytotoxicity were activated during exercise. The female GWI patients exhibited less significant changes in gene expression than men. During the recovery period, male GWI patients demonstrated distinct alterations in the regulation of innate immune responses. On the other hand, female GWI patients showed significant changes in genes related to regulation of intracellular signal transduction. These functional pathways and differentially expressed genes identified in this project provide valuable insights into the sex-specific pathophysiology of GWI. Conclusion The identification of sex-specific biomarkers and therapeutic targets in GWI holds great potential for understanding the distinct onset and progression of this disease in different sexes.

This dataset

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Download · which file do I need?

Direct links to NCBI and ENA, no account and no request form. Pick by what you want to do: take the small processed table to look, the supplementary files to re-analyse, or the original raw data to start over.

1 · Just have a look

Processed table

The series matrix: one table of values per sample as the submitters processed it. The smallest download, and it opens in Excel or R. Start here to see what the data look like.

Series matrix ↓

2 · Re-analyse it

Supplementary files

The count tables and other files the authors uploaded. Take only the samples you need, or the whole study as GSE286345_RAW.tar (it can run to tens of gigabytes).

All supplementary files ↗ Whole study · RAW.tar ↓

3 · Start from the raw reads

Raw sequencing reads

The original FASTQ files, straight from the sequencer, held at ENA. Large, and you align them yourself, so only choose this if you need to re-process the study from scratch.

Raw reads on ENA ↗

What the files usually look like: For RNA-seq the counts are usually a table among the supplementary files (look for 'counts', 'expression', 'FPKM' or 'TPM' in the file name). The series matrix of a sequencing study is sometimes nearly empty.

Also filed as BioProject PRJNA1208952 and SRA study SRP556486. Searching any of these in the dataset finder brings you back here.

NCBI GEO page ↗

Samples in this study

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+ 242 more — browse all 242 samples with per-sample file links →

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Metadata from NCBI GEO, cached and refreshed periodically — the NCBI page above is authoritative. Downloads link straight to NCBI/ENA; nothing is proxied through BioTransfer.