Transcriptomic Profiling of Total RNA

A full description has been provided in our primary analysis study reported previously (30 (link)). In brief, total RNA was isolated using PAXgene Blood RNA Isolation Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA) and stored at −80°C. Transcriptomic profiling was performed by hybridizing each RNA sample to Affymetrix Human Genome U-133 Plus 2.0 arrays (Affymetrix Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) by Expression Analysis Inc. (Durham, NC, USA) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Each array contains 54,675 25-mer probe sets that include approximately 47,000 transcripts and variants out of which 38,500 are well-characterized human genes (33 (link)). Gene expression data were then submitted to Information Management Consultants (IMC), Inc. (Reston, VA, USA) for data warehousing using IMC’s Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Management System.