Project description:Rapacz Familial Hypercholesterolemic (RFH) swine have been used extensively in the vascular biology field as a robust model of complex atherosclerotic lesions. However, the heart valves from RFH swine have not been evaluated and it is unknown whether these animals develop calcific aortic valve disease without dietary intervention. Histological assessment of heart valve leaflets isolated from juvenile and adult swine revealed RFH swine develop the early hallmarks of the disease at two years of age. The goal of this microarray study was to gain some insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to the observed hallmarks and initiation of the disease. RNA samples from three juvenile wild type, and three juvenile and four adult RFH swine aortic valve leaflets were isolated, processed, and hybridized to Affymetrix GeneChip Porcine Genome microarrays according to the manufacturer's instructions. The mean expression values of each probeset in the adult RFH samples were compared to those in the juvenile RFH samples. Likewise, the mean expression values of each probeset in the juvenile RFH samples were compared to those in the juvenile wild type samples.
Project description:Rapacz Familial Hypercholesterolemic (RFH) swine have been used extensively in the vascular biology field as a robust model of complex atherosclerotic lesions. However, the heart valves from RFH swine have not been evaluated and it is unknown whether these animals develop calcific aortic valve disease without dietary intervention. Histological assessment of heart valve leaflets isolated from juvenile and adult swine revealed RFH swine develop the early hallmarks of the disease at two years of age. The goal of this microarray study was to gain some insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to the observed hallmarks and initiation of the disease.
Project description:Exploring the mechanisms of valvular heart disease (VHD) at the cellular level may be useful to identify new therapeutic targets; however, the comprehensive cellular landscape of non-diseased human cardiac valve leaflets remains unclear. The cellular landscapes of non-diseased human cardiac valve leaflets (five aortic valves, five pulmonary valves, five tricuspid valves, and three mitral valves) from end-stage heart failure patients undergoing heart transplantation were explored using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)
Project description:Calcified aortic valve leaflets (CAVs) were explanted from patients with severe aortic valve stenosis undergoing aortic valve replacement at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Union Hospital, affiliated to Tongji Medical College. Control non-calcified aortic valves with normal echocardiographic analyses were obtained during heart transplant procedures. RNA was extracted from valve leaflets and gene expression evaluated using the Arraystar Human mRNA Array. This study aimed to perform the expression analysis of mRNA on human aortic valves.
Project description:Semilunar valve leaflets have a well-described trilaminar histoarchitecture with a sophisticated elastic fiber network. It was previously proposed that elastin-containing fibers play a subordinate role in early human cardiac valve development; however, this assumption was based on data obtained from mouse models and human second and third trimester tissues. Here, we systematically analyzed tissues from human fetal first (4-12 weeks) and second (13-18 weeks) trimester, adolescent (14-19 years) and adult (50-55 years) hearts to monitor the temporal and spatial distribution of elastic fibers, focusing on semilunar valves. Global gene expression analyses revealed that the transcription of genes essential for elastic fiber formation starts early within the first trimester. These data were confirmed by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry employing antibodies that recognize fibronectin, fibrilin-1, -2 and -3, EMILIN-1, fibulin-4 and fibulin-5, which were all expressed at the onset of cardiac cushion formation (~week 4 of development). Tropoelastin/ elastin protein expression was first detectable in leaflets of 7-week hearts. We revealed that immature elastic fibers are organized in early human cardiovascular development, and mature elastin-containing fibers first evolve in semilunar valves when blood pressure and heartbeat accelerate. Our findings provide a conceptual framework with the potential to lead to novel hypotheses in human cardiac valve development and disease. Total RNA obtained from fetal cardiac valve cushions, developed fetal heart valves, adolescent heart valves, and adult heart valves.
Project description:The metalloprotease ADAMTS7, a drug target in atherosclerosis and vascular restenosis, is thought to have no relevant physiological role in the cardiovascular system. However, potential cooperation with its close homolog, ADAMTS12, that may mask such a role remains unexplored. The objective of the present work was to investigate cardiac biology in mice with genetic inactivation of both proteases and to define their proteolytic activities in a relevant matrisome. Here, we demonstrate that these genes are co-expressed in heart valves and buffer the loss of each other by compensatory upregulation. Doppler echocardiography showed that adult Adamts7-/-;Adamts12-/- mice had significant regurgitant aortic valves. Leaflets of Adamts7-/-;Adamts12-/- aortic valves, but not the respective single mutants, were already abnormally shaped at birth and subsequently underwent severe disorganization and enlargement postnatally with calcification near the valve annuli. We further comprehensively identified novel ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 substrates relevant to the valve matrisome in secretome libraries from Adamts7-/-;Adamts12-/- cells using the N-terminomics technique Terminal Amine Isotopic Labeling of Substrates (TAILS). Although ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 shared several extracellular matrix (ECM) substrates, the cleavage sites and sequence preferences for each protease were distinct. Adamts7-/-;Adamts12-/- valve leaflets showed accumulation of several of the identified ECM substrates tested, including periostin, a matricellular protein crucial for cardiac valve homeostasis. We conclude that the observed myxomatous heart valve degeneration reflects accumulation of diverse ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 ECM substrates, as well as perturbation of regulatory pathways with roots in ECM, such as TGFsignaling, which was increased in Adamts7-/-;Adamts12-/- valve leaflets, and propagates ECM dysregulation. These findings are highly relevant to current interest in drugs targeting ADAMTS7 for applications such as mitigation of atherosclerosis or vascular re-stenosis.
Project description:To optimize the genome annotation, nine tissue and one pool RNA libraries (i.e. heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, muscle, fat, ovary, pool.) were constructed using the Illumina mRNA-spleeneq Prep Kit