The transcriptome in blood: challenges and solutions for robust expression profiling

Peripheral blood may be the most feasible tissue source in clinical assessment of differences in gene expression between diseases and drug treatments due to accessibility. Yet, gene expression profiling from blood remains a challenge. Blood is a complicated biological system consisting of a variety of cell types at different stages of development. In addition, blood is also one of the most variable tissue types for gene expression analysis. The success of a blood microarray study depends on the choice of cell isolation method and preparation technique. In this review, we give a brief overview of the current status of using blood as a source for expression profiling and discuss potential applications of this method in the practices of clinical research.