Project description:Introduction: Environmental exposure to dioxin has been linked to increased myocardial infarction. Smooth muscle cells (SMC) in the coronary vasculature play a critical role in atherosclerotic plaque remodeling due to their phenotypic plasticity, however, the detailed mechanism linking dioxin exposure to adverse SMC modulation is not well understood. Methods: Single-cell RNA and ATAC sequencing and histological analyses were performed on the aorta from mouse models of atherosclerosis exposed to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) or control. Primary human coronary artery SMC (HCASMC) treated in culture with TCDD were used to perform RNA-Seq, ATAC-Seq, and functional phenotypic assays. ChIP-Seq was performed with antibodies against Aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and TCF21. Results: Modulated SMC were the most transcriptionally responsive cell type to dioxin in the atherosclerotic aorta. Dioxin accelerated disease phenotype by promoting a modulated SMC phenotype early, resulting in increased lesion size, migration of SMC, and macrophage recruitment to the lesion. We found C3 expressing modulated SMCs to be likely contributing to the increased macrophage recruitment and inflammation. Analysis of the RNA-Seq data from HCASMC treated with TCDD showed differential enrichment of biological pathways related to cell migration, localization, and inflammation. Further, ATAC-Seq data showed a significant activation for pathways regulating vascular development, cell migration, inflammation, and apoptosis. Also, there was enrichment of AHR ChIP-Seq peaks as expected, however, the TCF21 enrichment decreased significantly with TCDD treatment. The SMC-specific Ahr knockout resulted in increased oxidative stress in SMC, increased lesion size and macrophage content, and loss of SMC lineage cells in the lesion cap when exposed to TCDD. Conclusion: Dioxin adversely remodels atherosclerotic plaque by accelerating the SMC-phenotypic modulation, and increasing inflammation and oxidative stress resulting in increased macrophage recruitment and lesion size. Dioxin may adversely affect the SMC phenotype and disease state by affecting the TCF21 occupancy in the open chromatin regions. Ahr in SMC confers protection against dioxin by promoting a stable plaque phenotype and reducing dioxin induced oxidative stress.

Project description:Aryl-hydrocarbon receptor protects against endochondral ossification of modulated smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis Introduction: Smooth muscle cells (SMC) play a critical role in atherosclerosis. The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an environment-sensing transcription factor that contributes to vascular development, and has been implicated in coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. We hypothesized that AHR can affect atherosclerosis by regulating phenotypic modulation of SMC. Methods: We combined RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq and in-vitro assays in human coronary artery SMC (HCASMC), with single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq), histology, and RNAscope in an SMC-specific lineage-tracing Ahr knockout mouse model of atherosclerosis to better understand the role of AHR in vascular disease. Results: Genomic studies coupled with functional assays in cultured HCASMC revealed that AHR modulates HCASMC phenotype and suppresses ossification in these cells. Lineage tracing and activity tracing studies in the mouse aortic sinus showed that the Ahr pathway is active in modulated SMC in the atherosclerotic lesion cap. Furthermore, scRNA-Seq studies of the SMC-specific Ahr knockout mice showed a significant increase in the proportion of modulated SMC expressing chondrocyte markers such as Col2a1 and Alpl, which localized to the lesion neointima. These cells, which we term chondromyocytes (CMC), were also identified in the neointima of human coronary arteries. In histological analyses, these changes manifested as larger lesion size, increased lineage-traced SMC participation in the lesion, decreased lineage-traced SMC in the lesion cap, and increased alkaline phosphatase activity in lesions in the Ahr knockout compared to wild-type mice. We propose that AHR is likely protective based on these data and inference from human genetic analyses. Conclusion: Overall, we conclude that AHR promotes maintenance of lesion cap integrity and diminishes the disease related SMC-to-CMC transition in atherosclerotic tissues.

Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for coronary artery disease (CAD, also termed coronary heart disease, CHD) have discovered and validated 48 loci genome-wide and recent 1000-Genomes based meta-analyses have discovered additional 8 loci with significant association, however, true follow-up studies on the mechanisms of association are still scarce. Here we analyze the relationship of two transcription factors, TCF21, one of the lead GWAS candidate genes for coronary artery disease and AHR, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which previously was not implicated as fundamental for the atherosclerotic process. We show that both the predicted and in-vivo ChIP-Seq binding sites for TCF and AHR colocalize in the human genome with over 400 predicted sites and 119 ChIP-Seq sites directly overlapping. TCF and AHR-ARNT predicted binding sites longitudinal phasing was observed near the transcription start sites, outlining the position of +1 nucleosome. AHR-ARNT matrix was highly enriched in both TCF21 ChIP-Seq peaks and ATAC-Seq open chromatin regions in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMC), implicating the role of AHR in this important cell type for vascular biology. Co-expression modules of TCF21 and AHR showed high degree of connectivity. Separation of rotationally phased and unphased predicted binding sites for TCF and AHR resolved the roles of direct and indirect TCF-AHR interactions, and implicated as highly-modulated various inflammatory, interleukin and cytokine related processes, while ChIP-Seq co-localization of TCF21 and AHR/ARNT emphasized the role of calcium related processes. We performed TCF21 overexpression analysis in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMC) and obtained GO ontologies that recapitulate in vivo pathophysiology of the atherosclerotic vessel wall, and a set of chronic inflammatory ontologies was established with the colocalization of TCF21 and AHR ChIP-Seq sites as well as with the binomial testing of GWAS SNP overrepresentation. We experimentally confirmed that TCF21 binds to and regulates AHR gene expression in HCASMC, as well as to elements near AHR downstream genes, such as CYP1A1, using reporter assays. The functional relevance of AHR pathway in HCASMC is confirmed using AHR ligands TCDD and oxidized LDL. Finally, we show that AHR is elevated in atherosclerotic arteries using laser capture microdissection in mice in vivo and in human ex vivo. In conclusion, we extend GWAS results to functional assays and show that TCF21 and AHR functional connectivity provides a novel mechanism for diseased coronary vessel wall biology.

Project description:Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries and there is compelling evidence that the majority of these fatalities are secondary to rupture of unstable atherosclerotic plaques. However, the mechanisms that control plaque stability are poorly understood, although it is widely believed that plaques having a decreased ratio of cells positive for smooth muscle cell (SMC) markers such as ACTA2 relative to macrophage markers are more likely to rupture. Herein we employMyh11-CreERT2 ROSA floxed STOP eYFP Apoe-/- mice to trace SMC lineage and show that traditional methods for detecting SMCs based on immunostaining for SMC markers like ACTA2 are unable to detect 82% of SMC-derived cells within advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Moreover, we show that these SMC-derived cells within advanced lesions exhibit multiple phenotypes including activation of multiple markers of macrophages, mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and myofibroblasts (MF). Importantly, we show that SMC-derived macrophage like cells are phagocytic based on electron microscope YFP immunolabeling. In addition, results of single cell epigenetic assays developed in our lab shows that nearly 20% of macrophage-like cells within human lesions are of SMC not myeloid origin. These phenotypic transitions appear to be critical in lesion pathogenesis, in that we show that SMC-specific conditional knockout (KO) of the pluripotency factor, Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), resulted in marked reductions in lesion size, increases in multiple indices of plaque stability, and reduced numbers of SMC-derived MSC- and macrophage-like cells. Finally, we show that cholesterol loading of cultured SMC is associated with activation of multiple markers of macrophages and MSC, secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased phagocytosis, all of which are Klf4 dependent. Taken together, results indicate that the contribution of SMCs within atherosclerotic plaques has been greatly underestimated, and that loss of Klf4 within SMC result in major changes in SMC phenotype and function that play a major role in lesion pathogenesis. Examination of KLF4 transcription factor in an atherosclerosis setting

Project description:Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries and there is compelling evidence that the majority of these fatalities are secondary to rupture of unstable atherosclerotic plaques. However, the mechanisms that control plaque stability are poorly understood, although it is widely believed that plaques having a decreased ratio of cells positive for smooth muscle cell (SMC) markers such as ACTA2 relative to macrophage markers are more likely to rupture. Herein we employMyh11-CreERT2 ROSA floxed STOP eYFP Apoe-/- mice to trace SMC lineage and show that traditional methods for detecting SMCs based on immunostaining for SMC markers like ACTA2 are unable to detect 82% of SMC-derived cells within advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Moreover, we show that these SMC-derived cells within advanced lesions exhibit multiple phenotypes including activation of multiple markers of macrophages, mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and myofibroblasts (MF). Importantly, we show that SMC-derived macrophage like cells are phagocytic based on electron microscope YFP immunolabeling. In addition, results of single cell epigenetic assays developed in our lab shows that nearly 20% of macrophage-like cells within human lesions are of SMC not myeloid origin. These phenotypic transitions appear to be critical in lesion pathogenesis, in that we show that SMC-specific conditional knockout (KO) of the pluripotency factor, Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), resulted in marked reductions in lesion size, increases in multiple indices of plaque stability, and reduced numbers of SMC-derived MSC- and macrophage-like cells. Finally, we show that cholesterol loading of cultured SMC is associated with activation of multiple markers of macrophages and MSC, secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased phagocytosis, all of which are Klf4 dependent. Taken together, results indicate that the contribution of SMCs within atherosclerotic plaques has been greatly underestimated, and that loss of Klf4 within SMC result in major changes in SMC phenotype and function that play a major role in lesion pathogenesis.

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Aryl-hydrocarbon receptor in smooth muscle cells protect against dioxin induced adverse remodeling of atherosclerosis [RNA-seq]

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