Sex-Stratified Gene Regulatory Networks Reveal Female Key Driver Genes of Atherosclerosis Involved in Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype Switching.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although sex differences in coronary artery disease are widely accepted with women developing more stable atherosclerosis than men, the underlying pathobiology of such differences remains largely unknown. In coronary artery disease, recent integrative systems biological studies have inferred gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Within these GRNs, key driver genes have shown great promise but have thus far been unidentified in women.

Methods

We generated sex-specific GRNs of the atherosclerotic arterial wall in 160 women and age-matched men in the STARNET study (Stockholm-Tartu Atherosclerosis Reverse Network Engineering Task). We integrated the female GRNs with single-cell RNA-sequencing data of the human atherosclerotic plaque and single-cell RNA sequencing of advanc

SUBMITTER: Hartman RJG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7930467 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature