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Transcriptional and Epigenomic Landscapes of CNS and non-CNS Vascular Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACT: Vascular endothelial cell (EC) function depends on appropriate organ-specific molecular and cellular specializations. To explore genomic mechanisms that control this specialization, we have analyzed and compared the transcriptome, accessible chromatin, and DNA methylome landscapes from mouse brain, liver, lung, and kidney ECs. Analysis of transcription factor (TF) motifs at candidate cis-regulatory elements together with TF gene expression reveals both shared and organ-specific EC TFs. In the embryo, only those ECs that are adjacent to or within the developing CNS exhibit canonical Wnt signaling, which correlates precisely with blood-brain barrier (BBB) differentiation and Zic3 expression. In acutely cultured brain ECs, the rapid loss of BBB markers is closely correlated with down-regulation of canonical Wnt signaling. In the early postnatal brain, single cell RNA-seq of purified ECs reveals close relationships between veins and mitotic cells and between arteries and tip cells, and a division of capillary ECs into vein-like and artery-like classes.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE111839 | GEO | 2018/09/06

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:With advances in single-cell genomics, molecular signatures of cells comprising the brain vasculature are revealed in unprecedented detail, yet the ageing-associated cell subtype transcriptomic changes which may contribute to neurovascular dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases remain elusive. Here, we performed single-cell transcriptomic profiling of brain endothelial cells (EC) in young adult and aged mice to characterize their ageing-associated genome-wide expression changes. We identified zonation-dependent transcriptomic changes in aged brain EC subtypes, with capillary ECs exhibiting the most transcriptomic alterations. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed altered immune/cytokine signaling in ECs of all vascular segments, while functional changes impacting the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and glucose/energy metabolism were most prominently implicated in ECs of the capillary bed – the primary site where ECs and other neurovascular unit (NVU) cell types closely interact and coordinate to regulate BBB and cerebral blood flow in health and diseased conditions. Furthermore, an overrepresentation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-associated genes identified from GWAS studies was evident among the human orthologs of differentially expressed genes of aged capillary ECs but not other EC subtypes. Importantly, for numerous EC-enriched differentially expressed genes with important functional roles at the BBB and/or association with AD, we found concordant expression changes in human aged or AD brains. Finally, we demonstrated that treatment with exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, strongly reverses transcriptomic changes in ECs and largely reduces BBB leakage in the aged brain. Thus, our study revealed novel vascular ageing-associations of AD in the brain capillary endothelium, and provides insights into detailed transcriptomic alterations underlying brain EC ageing that are complex with subtype specificity yet amenable to pharmacological interventions.

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Transcriptional and Epigenomic Landscapes of CNS and non-CNS Vascular Endothelial Cells

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