Dataset Information

METTL14 promotes intimal hyperplasia through m6A-mediated control of vascular smooth muscle dedifferentiation genes [meRIP-seq]

ABSTRACT: Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) possess significant phenotypic plasticity, shifting between a contractile phenotype and a synthetic state for vascular repair/remodelling. Dysregulated VSMC transformation, marked by excessive proliferation and migration, primarily drives intimal hyperplasia. N6-methyladenosine (m6A), the most prevalent RNA modification in eukaryotes, plays a critical role in gene expression regulation; however, its impact on VSMC plasticity is not fully understood. This research investigates the alterations in m6A modification and its regulatory factors during VSMC phenotypic shifts and their influence on intimal hyperplasia. We demonstrate that METTL14, crucial for m6A deposition, significantly promotes VSMC dedifferentiation. METTL14 expression, initially negligible, is elevated in synthetic VSMC cultures, post-injury neointimal VSMCs, and human restenotic arteries. Reducing Mettl14 levels in mouse primary VSMCs decreases pro- synthetic genes, suppressing their proliferation and migration. m6A-RIP-seq profiling shows key VSMC gene networks undergo altered m6A regulation in Mettl14-deficient cells. Mettl14 enhances Klf4 and Serpine1 expression through increased m6A deposition. Local Mettl14 knockdown significantly curbs neointimal formation post-arterial injury, and reducing Mettl14 in hyperplastic arteries halts further neointimal development. We found that Mettl14 is a pivotal regulator of VSMC dedifferentiation, influencing Klf4- and Serpine1- mediated phenotypic conversion. Inhibiting Mettl14 is a viable strategy for preventing restenosis and halting restenotic occlusions

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE291560 | GEO | 2025/03/17

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Dataset's files

Source:

			Action	DRS
		Other

Items per page:

1 - 1 of 1

Similar Datasets

Project description:Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) dysregulation is a hallmark of vascular disease, including atherosclerosis. In particular, the majority of cells within atherosclerotic lesions are generated from pre-existing VSMCs and a clonal nature has been documented for VSMC-derived cells in multiple disease models. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation of oligoclonal lesions and the phenotype of proliferating VSMCs are unknown.Here we analyse clonal dynamics in multi-color lineage-traced animals over time after vessel injury to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying clonal VSMC expansion in disease.We demonstrate that VSMC proliferation is initiated in a small fraction of VSMCs that initially expand clonally in the medial layer and then migrate to form the oligoclonal neointima. Selective activation of VSMC proliferation also occurs in vitro, suggesting that this is a cell-autonomous feature. Mapping of VSMC trajectories using single-cell RNA-sequencing reveals a continuum of cellular states after injury and suggests that VSMC proliferation initiates in cells that have downregulated the contractile phenotype and show evidence of pronounced phenotypic switching. We show that proliferation is associated with induced expression of stem cell antigen 1 (SCA1) and the expression signature previously identified in SCA1+ VSMCs in healthy arteries. A remarkably increased proliferation of SCA1+ VSMCs, directly validated in functional assays, indicates that SCA1+ VSMCs act as "first responders" in vascular injury. Early atherosclerotic lesions also had clonal VSMC contribution and we show that the proliferation-associated injury response is conserved in plaque VSMCs, extending these findings to atherosclerosis. Finally, we identify VSMCs in healthy human arteries that correspond to the SCA1+ state in mouse VSMCs and show that genes identified as differentially expressed in this human VSMC subpopulation are enriched for genes showing genetic association with cardiovascular disease. We show that cell-intrinsic, selective VSMC activation drives clonal proliferation after injury and in atherosclerosis. Our study suggests that healthy mouse and human arteries contain VSMCs characterised by expression of disease-associated genes that are predisposed for proliferation. Targeting such "first responder" cells in patients undergoing vascular surgery could effectively prevent injury-associated VSMC activation and neoatherosclerosis.

Project description:Rationale: Neointima formation is a common pathological feature of atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty and involves the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). N6-methyladenosine (m6A), the most prevalent mRNA internal modification and being proposed to be primarily produced by RNA methyltransferase METTL3, plays a vital role in post-transcriptional regulations. Nevertheless, the role of RNA m6A modification in VSMCs and neointima formation remains disputable and undetermined. Objective: To determine the role of METTL3 and its produced RNA modification m6A in VSMCs and neointima formation after vascular injury. Methods and Results: We examined the expression of m6A writers and erasers in the carotid artery collected from human carotid endarterectomy (CEA) as well as in that of mice and unanimously found that METTL3 expression is increased significantly after vascular injury. Then, VSMC-confined METLL3 knockout mice (Myh11CreERT2 METTL3flox/flox) were generated, and carotid artery injury was induced. METTL3 knockout markedly attenuated artery neointima formation induced by wire injury. Moreover, we discovered that METTL3 deficiency repressed both ex vivo and in vivo proliferation of VSMCs. Through a joint analysis of the data from bulk RNA and m6A sequencing, serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 1 (SGK1) was identified due to its well-documented role in promoting VSMC proliferation and migration. Mechanistically, METTL3-mediated SGK1 mRNA methylation (A146 and A210) was proposed to facilitate SGK1 transcription by recruiting the m6A reader YTHDC1, as shown by well-designed experiments involving methylation site mapping, m6A RNA immunoprecipitation (m6A-RIP), chromatin immunoprecipitation quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) and reporter gene analysis. As anticipated, VSMC proliferation and intimal hyperplasia that had already been mitigated by METTL3 ablation were both restored by SGK1 overexpression. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that METTL3 promotes SGK1 expression via mRNA methylation-mediated facilitation of its own transcription, thus predisposing VSMCs to a proliferative state and contributing to neointima formation after vascular injury, underscoring the essential role METTL3 plays in vascular remodeling.

Dataset Information

METTL14 promotes intimal hyperplasia through m6A-mediated control of vascular smooth muscle dedifferentiation genes [meRIP-seq]

Dataset's files

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets