Project description:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a serious public health problem in developing countries. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a medical complication of RHD. Although the understanding of disease pathogenesis has advanced in recent years, the key questions need to be addressed. Transfer RNA–derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) are a novel type of short non-coding RNAs that have potential regulatory functions in various physiological and pathological processes. The present study used tsRNAs sequencing to investigate the relationship between RHD and atrial fibrillation (AF). Three paired myocardial papilla were taken from six rheumatic RHD patients with AF (3 cases) or without AF (3 cases) from January 2016 to January 2017 in Xiangya Hospital, Central South University. A total of 219 precisely matched tsRNAs were identified, and 77 tsRNAs (fold change > 2.0 and P < 0.05) were differently changed. Three tsRNAs (AS-tDR-001269, AS-tDR-001363, AS-tDR-006049) were randomly selected and verified by qRT-PCR. The results of qRT-PCR were consistent with tsRNAs sequencing, suggesting the tsRNAs sequencing was reliable. Then bioinformatics analysis indicated that the target genes were abundant in regulation of transcription, DNA binding, intracellular. Most of the genes were predicted to interplay with cytokine-cytokine receptor by KEGG analysis. Our findings uncover the pathological process of AF in RHD through tsRNAs sequencing. This study provides new ideas for future research on elucidating the mechanism of AF in RHD and offers potential new candidates for the treatment and diagnosis of RHD.
Project description:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is still a serious life-threatening heart disease in developing countries. Accumulating evidence suggested that circulating exosomes and its cargoes including mRNA, microRNA and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) play essential roles in cardiovascular diseases, while their roles in RHD remain unexplored. In the present study, we investigated genomic profiles of circulating exosomes harvested from RHD patients. And we performed gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis to explore potential roles of differentially expressed mRNAs. Furthermore, we identified 5 lncRNAs and their flanking coding genes simultaneously dysregulated in the circulating exosome. Collectively, we provided the first transcriptome analysis identifying lncRNAs and mRNAs in circulating exosomes in RHD patients, and our data provide valuable insights into seeking for potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for RHD.
Project description:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) continues to affect developing countries with low income, due to the lack of resources and effective diagnostic techniques. Understanding the genetic basis of progression from its prequel disease state, acute rheumatic fever (ARF), would aid in developing predictive biomarkers and improving patient care. To gain system-wide molecular insights into possible causes for progression, we collected blood transcriptomes from ARF (5) and RHD (5) patients. Using an integrated transcriptome and network analysis, we identified a subnetwork comprising the most significantly differentially expressed genes and most perturbed pathways in RHD as compared to ARF. For example, the chemokine signaling pathway was seen to be upregulated while tryptophan metabolism was found to be downregulated in RHD. The subnetworks of variation between the two conditions provide unbiased molecular-level insights into the host processes that may be associated with the progression of ARF to RHD, which has the potential to inform future diagnostics and therapeutic strategies. We also found significantly raised neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in both ARF and RHD cohorts. Activated neutrophils and inhibited NK cell gene signatures reflected the drivers of the inflammatory process being common to both the disease conditions.
Project description:The aim of the current study is to identify DNA methylation markers associated with rheumatic heart disease with secondary pulmonary arterial hypertension (RHD-PAH). Genome-wide DNA methylation study is performed among 6 RHD-PAH patients and 6 healthy controls using Illumina HumanMethylation 450K array.
Project description:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a major cause of cardiovascular death and disability amongst young adults. Building on a sample collection established for and genotyped in several earlier successful candidate gene studies, this case-control study investigated host genetic susceptibility to RHD using a genome-wide approach. The current dataset comprises over 850 individuals recruited in Uttar Pradesh, India, including cases of RHD based on echocardiographic diagnosis and controls recruited on the basis of normal echocardiograms. For this analysis all available samples were genotyped using the Illumina HumanCore-24 BeadChip platform. Efforts are now underway to establish new sample collections in other areas of India as well as Pakistan and later other neighbouring countries.
Project description:The aim of the current study is to identify DNA methylation markers associated with rheumatic heart disease with secondary pulmonary arterial hypertension (RHD-PAH).