Total RNA was isolated from whole blood collected in PAXgene Blood RNA Tubes using PAXgene Blood RNA Kit (PreAnalytiX) per manufacturer's instructions, and PBMCs using TRIzol (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Total RNA with high quality (RIN > 8) was used for cDNA library preparation using the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Library Preparation kit for NeoPrep (Illumina). Sequencing was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 3000 System in a 1 × 50 bp single read mode. Sequenced reads were mapped against the human reference genome (GRCh37) using TopHat v2.1.1 (7 (link)). Reads mapped to hemoglobin genes were removed from further analysis. Mapped reads were quantified using HTSeq (8 (link)). All the count data were normalized using TCC (9 (link)) and differentially expressed genes were detected using edgeR (10 (link)). Pathway enrichment analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software (Qiagen), respectively. The original RNAseq data is uploaded and available online (Gene Expression Omnibus: GSE118901).
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