Project description:Subjects underwent endothelial testing and blood sampling at baseline and after 3 months of exercise training. Microarray and flow cytometry-based characterization of cells from an endothelial progeniator colony assay was consistent with T lymphocytes, but not endothelial cells. Keywords: expression analysis
Project description:Subjects underwent endothelial testing and blood sampling at baseline and after 3 months of exercise training. Microarray and flow cytometry-based characterization of cells from an endothelial progeniator colony assay was consistent with T lymphocytes, but not endothelial cells. Experiment Overall Design: blood samples from 12 healthy subjects at baseline (A) and after 3 months (B) of exercise.
Project description:Regenerative capabilities of the human endothelium are governed by vessel-resident progenitors termed endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs). Endothelial cells acquire mesenchymal phenotypes during atherogenesis, via a process termed endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). This study aimed to investigate the molecular drivers of EndMT in the progenitor population under an atherogenic model. In the presence of oxidised low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), cultured human ECFCs displayed classical features of EndMT, through reduced endothelial gene and protein expression, function as well as increased mesenchymal genes, contractility, and motility. Importantly, in vitro oxLDL resulted in a dramatic loss in progenitor self-renewal through single-cell colony formation assay and numbers. RNA sequencing of ECFCs exposed or not to oxLDL validated gene expression changes suggesting EndMT but identified SOX9 as one of the highly differentially expressed genes. ATACseq revealed SOX9 binding sites were associated with regions of dynamic chromosome accessibility resulting from exposure to oxLDL. EndMT phenotype and gene expression changes induced by oxLDL in vitro or high fat diet (HFD) in vivo was reversed by an shRNA knockdown of SOX9 or endothelial specific conditional knockout of Sox9 in murine models respectively. Finally, analysis of single cell RNA sequencing of human atherosclerotic aorta identified endothelial populations with mesenchymal characteristics overexpressing SOX9 when compared to controls. Overall, our findings support that in the atherogenic process, EndMT induced by oxLDL or HFD is driven by SOX9 and strongly affects progenitor function opening new avenues for targeting this process.
Project description:Regenerative capabilities of the human endothelium are governed by vessel-resident progenitors termed endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs). Endothelial cells acquire mesenchymal phenotypes during atherogenesis, via a process termed endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). This study aimed to investigate the molecular drivers of EndMT in the progenitor population under an atherogenic model. In the presence of oxidised low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), cultured human ECFCs displayed classical features of EndMT, through reduced endothelial gene and protein expression, function as well as increased mesenchymal genes, contractility, and motility. Importantly, in vitro oxLDL resulted in a dramatic loss in progenitor self-renewal through single-cell colony formation assay and numbers. RNA sequencing of ECFCs exposed or not to oxLDL validated gene expression changes suggesting EndMT but identified SOX9 as one of the highly differentially expressed genes. ATACseq revealed SOX9 binding sites were associated with regions of dynamic chromosome accessibility resulting from exposure to oxLDL. EndMT phenotype and gene expression changes induced by oxLDL in vitro or high fat diet (HFD) in vivo was reversed by an shRNA knockdown of SOX9 or endothelial specific conditional knockout of Sox9 in murine models respectively. Finally, analysis of single cell RNA sequencing of human atherosclerotic aorta identified endothelial populations with mesenchymal characteristics overexpressing SOX9 when compared to controls. Overall, our findings support that in the atherogenic process, EndMT induced by oxLDL or HFD is driven by SOX9 and strongly affects progenitor function opening new avenues for targeting this process.
Project description:Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are circulating endothelial precursors shown to incorporate into foci of neovascularisation. Herein, we describe phenotypic characteristics of an EPC sub-type called endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs). Peripheral blood-isolated ECFCs expressed endothelial and progenitor surface antigens and displayed cobblestone-patterned colonies with clonal proliferative and angiogenic capacities in vitro. ECFCs demonstrated endothelial cell-like shear stress responses including cell alignment and PECAM-1 expression. Proteomic comparison with an endothelial reference population (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) confirmed a similar proteomic profile. Hierarchical clustering revealed two distinct ECFC clusters with differences in cell growth, proliferation and angiogenesis capacities. The cluster with compromised functionality was also associated with elevated blood pressure and impaired lipid profile. Our findings described an endothelial-like phenotype of blood-derived ECFCs with distinctive proteomic signatures based on cellular and clinical characteristics. ECFCs may aid in identifying novel mechanisms associated with cardiovascular disease risk and new targets to enhance angiogenesis.
Project description:To investigate the rare circulating endothelial colony-forming cells and compare their characteristics with umblical vein endothelial cells, single-cell RNAseq was performed (10X Genomics).