< No: 31 >
2019


The Blood Atlas

The Blood Atlas provides single-cell type information on genome-wide RNA expression profiles of human protein-coding genes in various B cells, T cells, monocytes, granulocytes, and dendritic cells. The single-cell analysis covers 18 cell types isolated through cell sorting followed by transcriptomics analysis. A genome-wide classification of the proteins with elevated expression in various immune cells was performed. The analysis also included comparisons of the proteins specific for blood in the context of proteins expressed across all tissues and organs in the human body.

Key publication

  • Uhlen M et al., A genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of protein-coding genes in human blood cells. Science. (2019)
    PubMed: 31857451 DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9198



Figure legend: Classification of all blood cell type specific genes. Adapted from Uhlén et al. (2019).


Key facts

  • There are 1,448 protein-coding genes that have enriched expression in a single immune-cell type
  • 56% of protein-coding genes have elevated expression in at least one of the analyzed tissues and cells
  • Only 216 (<1%) of all genes were not detected in any of the tissues analyzed
  • 224 genes associated with primary immunodeficiencies in humans were studied