Project description:Acute vascular injury is an unwelcome consequence of invasive treatments designed to alleviate symptoms of vascular stenosis. Resulting fibrotic scarring and neointima formation may result in loss of lumen diameter and diminished vascular function. Understanding of the key phases of acute inflammation, resolution and remodeling has the potential to minimise unwanted effects on the vasculature and therefore improve patient outcomes. The cellular landscape of blood vessels is highly hetergeneous in nature, and therefore data at single-cell resolution is of high relevance to this problem. Herein, the cellularity of murine carotid artery tissue is described in a cell- and time-resolved manner. Single-cell RNA-sequencing of carotid tissue isolated at time-points ranging from uninjured vessel to 14 days post-injury enabled the recapitulation of all stages of vascular injury. In these data, a sub-population of smooth muscle cells which also arises in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction was identified. So-called stem cells/endothelial cells/monocytes (SEM) cells are candidates for repopulating injured vessels, and were amongst the most proliferative cell clusters following wire-injury of the carotid artery. Transcriptional signatures reflecting SEM gene expression patterns could also be detected in bulk RNA-sequencing of neointimal tissue isolated by laser capture microdissection. These data indicate that phenotypic plasticity of smooth muscle cells is highly important to the progression of lumen loss following acute vascular insult.
Project description:Acute vascular injury is an unwelcome consequence of invasive treatments designed to alleviate symptoms of vascular stenosis. Resulting fibrotic scarring and neointima formation may result in loss of lumen diameter and diminished vascular function. Understanding of the key phases of acute inflammation, resolution and remodeling has the potential to minimise unwanted effects on the vasculature and therefore improve patient outcomes. The cellular landscape of blood vessels is highly hetergeneous in nature, and therefore data at single-cell resolution is of high relevance to this problem. Herein, the cellularity of murine carotid artery tissue is described in a cell- and time-resolved manner. Single-cell RNA-sequencing of carotid tissue isolated at time-points ranging from uninjured vessel to 14 days post-injury enabled the recapitulation of all stages of vascular injury. In these data, a sub-population of smooth muscle cells which also arises in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction was identified. So-called stem cells/endothelial cells/monocytes (SEM) cells are candidates for repopulating injured vessels, and were amongst the most proliferative cell clusters following wire-injury of the carotid artery. Transcriptional signatures reflecting SEM gene expression patterns could also be detected in bulk RNA-sequencing of neointimal tissue isolated by laser capture microdissection. These data indicate that phenotypic plasticity of smooth muscle cells is highly important to the progression of lumen loss following acute vascular insult.
Project description:To profile single-cell transcriptome and analyze the diversity of cell types present in human atherosclerotic tissue specimens (carotid artery, CAR), we carried out scRNA-seq from 10 different patients.
Project description:The proliferation and remodeling of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is an important pathological event in atherosclerosis and restenosis. Here we report that microRNA-132 (miR-132) blocks vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation by inhibiting the expression of LRRFIP1 [leucine-rich repeat (in Flightless 1) interacting protein-1]. MicroRNA microarray revealed that miR-132 was upregulated in the rat carotid artery after catheter injury, which was further confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Transfection of an miR-132 mimic significantly inhibited the proliferation of VSMCs, whereas transfection of an miR-132 antagomir increased it. Bioinformatics showed that LRRFIP1 is a target candidate of miR-132. miR-132 down-regulated luciferase activity driven by a vector containing the 3’-untranslated region of Lrrfip1 in a sequence-specific manner. LRRFIP1 induced VSMC proliferation. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that Lrrfip1 was clearly expressed along with the basal laminar area of smooth muscle, and its expression pattern was disrupted 7 days after arterial injury LRRFIP1 mRNA was decreased 14 days after injury. Delivery of miR-132 to rat carotid artery attenuated neointimal proliferation in carotid artery injury models. Our results suggest that miR-132 is a novel regulator of VSMC proliferation that represses neointimal formation by inhibiting LRRFIP1 expression. Balloon injury was induced in the carotid arteries of male Sprague–Dawley rats weighing approximately 250 g. Total RNA were extracted from the arterial sections after 10 days. MicroRNA profile of the sample was compared with non-injured control.
Project description:The proliferation and remodeling of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is an important pathological event in atherosclerosis and restenosis. Here we report that microRNA-132 (miR-132) blocks vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation by inhibiting the expression of LRRFIP1 [leucine-rich repeat (in Flightless 1) interacting protein-1]. MicroRNA microarray revealed that miR-132 was upregulated in the rat carotid artery after catheter injury, which was further confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Transfection of an miR-132 mimic significantly inhibited the proliferation of VSMCs, whereas transfection of an miR-132 antagomir increased it. Bioinformatics showed that LRRFIP1 is a target candidate of miR-132. miR-132 down-regulated luciferase activity driven by a vector containing the 3’-untranslated region of Lrrfip1 in a sequence-specific manner. LRRFIP1 induced VSMC proliferation. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that Lrrfip1 was clearly expressed along with the basal laminar area of smooth muscle, and its expression pattern was disrupted 7 days after arterial injury LRRFIP1 mRNA was decreased 14 days after injury. Delivery of miR-132 to rat carotid artery attenuated neointimal proliferation in carotid artery injury models. Our results suggest that miR-132 is a novel regulator of VSMC proliferation that represses neointimal formation by inhibiting LRRFIP1 expression.
Project description:Carotid artery disease is frequent and can result in chronic modest hypoperfusion of the brain causing cognitive impairments even if classified asymptomatic without a transient ischemic attack or stroke. Paracrine Interleukin 6 (IL 6) improves functional outcome after stroke. However, in carotid artery disease it might have adverse long-term effects. With this exploratory study, we investigated the effect of paracrine IL 6 on cerebral remodeling in early stages after asymptomatic carotid artery occlusion. Therewith we aimed to distinguish IL 6 dependent targets with beneficial effects for long-term outcome from factors causing the detrimental long-term effects of IL 6. To mimic a human asymptomatic carotid artery disease, we used a mouse model of unilateral common carotid artery (CCA) occlusion. We developed a mouse model for inducible paracrine cerebral IL 6 expression (Cx30-Cre-ERT2;FLEX IL6) and induced IL 6 two days after CCA occlusion. We studied the effects of paracrine IL 6 after CCA occlusion on neuronal connectivity using diffusion tensor imaging and on local proteome regulations of the hypo-perfused striatum and contralateral motor cortex using mass spectrometry of laser capture micro-dissected tissues. Paracrine IL-6 induced cerebral remodeling leading to increased inter-hemispheric connectivity and changes in motor system connectivity. We identified changes in local protein abundance which might have adverse effects on functional outcome such as upregulation of Synuclein gamma (Sncg) or downregulation of Proline Dehydrogenase 1 (Prodh). However, we also identified changes in local protein abundance having potentially beneficial effects such as upregulation of Caprin1 or downregulation of GABA transporter 1 (Gat1).
Project description:This study was conducted in order to assess the effects of the compound Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an inhibitor of the enzyme inosine monophosphate dehydroxygenase (IMPDH) with a strong cytostatic effect on T-cells, on the phenotype of human carotid artery stenosis in humans in vivo. This was done at the transcriptome level by comparing the gene expression profiles of carotid endarterectomy samples from patients with carotid artery stenosis (>70% diameter stenosis on angiography) that were randomly assigned to treatment with MMF 1000 mg (N=9) or Placebo (N=11), respectively. MMF or placebo was given for at least 2 weeks prior to undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA).