Description
The accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) results in the condition called ER stress which induces the unfolded protein response (UPR) which is a complex cellular process that includes changes in expression of many genes. Failure to restore homeostasis in the ER is associated with human diseases. To identify the underlying changes in gene expression in response to ER stress, we induced ER stress in human B-cells and then measured gene expression at 10 time-points. We followed up those results by studying cells from 60 unrelated people. We rediscovered genes that were known to play a role in ER stress response and uncovered several thousand genes that are not known to be involved. Two of these are VLDLR and INHBE which showed significant increase in expression following ER stress in B-cells and