Tissue-specific mRNA expression profiles of human carbohydrate sulfotransferase and tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase.

Pairs of forward and reverse primers and TaqMan probes specific to each of 15 human sulfotransferases were prepared. The mRNA expression level of each target enzyme was analyzed in total RNA from single and pooled specimens of various human tissues (adrenal gland, bone marrow, brain, colon, heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, peripheral leukocytes, placenta, prostate, salivary gland, skeletal muscle, small intestine, spinal cord, spleen, stomach, testis, thymus, thyroid gland, trachea, and uterus) by real-time reverse transcription PCR using an ABI PRISM 7700 Sequence Detection System. The mRNA expression profiles of the sulfotransferases in these 23 different human tissues were used to identify the tissues exhibiting high transcriptional activity for these enzymes. These results provide valuable information for studies concerning the human carbohydrate sulfotransferase and tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase genes in various tissues.