Project description:To characterize the cell types that compose the mitral valve during the development of autoimmune valvular carditis, we utilized scRNA sequencing. Live cells from inflamed valves of K/B.g7 mice or uninflamed B.g7 controls were collected and analyzed at 3-, 8-, and 25 weeks of age.
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:Mitral valves were isolated from 2-month-old mice with the following 4 genotypes: 1) CCR2 RFP/+ (Chet), 2) CCR2 RFP/RFP (Cko), 3) Fbn1 C1039G/+; CCR2 RFP/+ (FhetChet), 4) Fbn1 C1039G/+; CCR2 RFP/RFP (FhetCko). N=4 for each genotype. Total RNA was extracted from mitral valves individually for gene expression profiling.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of mitral valves of the Marfan Syndrome Fibrillin1 C1039G heterozygous mice compared to wildtype controls
Project description:Mitral and tricuspid valves are essential for unidirectional blood flow in the heart. They are derived from similar cell sources, and yet congenital dysplasia affecting both valves is clinically rare, suggesting the presence of differential regulatory mechanisms underlying their development. We specifically inactivated Dicer1 in the endocardium during cardiogenesis and found that Dicer1-deletion caused congenital mitral valve stenosis and regurgitation, while it had no impact on other valves. We showed that hyperplastic mitral valves were caused by abnormal condensation and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. Our single-cell RNA Sequencing analysis revealed impaired maturation of mesenchymal cells and abnormal expression of ECM genes in mutant mitral valves. Furthermore, expression of a set of miRNAs that target ECM genes was significantly lower in tricuspid valves compared to mitral valves, consistent with the idea that the miRNAs are differentially required for mitral and tricuspid valve development. We thus reveal miRNA-mediated gene regulation as a novel molecular mechanism that differentially regulates mitral and tricuspid valve development, thereby enhancing our understanding of the non-association of inborn mitral and tricuspid dysplasia observed clinically.
Project description:Congenital heart malformations include mitral valve defects, which remain largely unexplained. During embryogenesis, a restricted population of endocardial cells within the atrioventricular canal undergoes an endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition to give rise to mitral valvular cells. However, the identity and fate decisions of these progenitors as well as the behavior and distribution of their derivatives in valve leaflets remain unknown. We used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of genetically labeled endocardial cells and microdissected mouse embryonic and postnatal mitral valves to characterize the developmental road. We defined the metabolic processes underlying the specification of the progenitors and their contributions to subtypes of valvular cells. Using retrospective multicolor clonal analysis, we describe specific modes of growth and behavior of endocardial cell-derived clones, which build up, in a proper manner, functional valve leaflets. Our data identify how both genetic and metabolic mechanisms specifically drive the fate of a subset of endocardial cells toward their distinct clonal contribution to the formation of the valve.
Project description:Cardiac valve structure and function are complex and include dynamic interactions between cells, extracellular matrix (ECM) and their hemodynamic environment. Valvular gene expression is tightly regulated by a variety of mechanisms including epigenetic factors such as histone modifications, RNA-based mechanisms and DNA methylation. To date, methylation fingerprints of non-diseased human aortic and mitral valves have not been studied. In this work we analyzed the differential methylation profiles of 12 non-diseased aortic and mitral valve tissue samples (in matched pairs). Analysis of methylation data (reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS)) of 1601 promoters genome-wide revealed 584 differentially methylated (DM) promoters, of which 13 were reported in endothelial mesenchymal trans-differentiation (EMT), 37 in aortic and mitral valve disease and 7 in ECM remodeling. Both functional classification as well as network analysis showed that the genes associated with the DM promoters were enriched for WNT-, Cadherin-, Endothelin-, PDGF- and VEGF- signaling implicated in valvular physiology and pathophysiology. Additional enrichment was detected for TGFB-, NOTCH- and Integrin- signaling involved in EMT as well as ECM remodeling. This data provides the first insight into differential regulation of human aortic and mitral valve tissue and identifies candidate genes linked to DM promoters. Our work will improve the understanding of valve biology, valve tissue engineering approaches and contributes to the identification of relevant drug targets.
Project description:Whole mitral valves from each Whitney grade of disease; normal (n=6), grade 1 (n=5), grade 2 (n=6), grade 3 (n=6) and grade 4 (n=5). mRNA was extracted using the qiagen RNeasy minikit and assessed by the agilent 2200 bioanalsyser. all samples passed quality control and transcriptomic analysis was performed by edinburgh genomics using the Affymetrix GeneChip™ Canine Gene 1.1ST Array. Results were reported as CEL files and then analysed in Affymetrix expression console (version 1.4.1.46) using the canine 1.1ST library files from Affymetrix. Robust Multi-array Average (RMA) was used to perform gene level normalisation and signal level summarisation.Following this, quality control assessment was performed on the data set. This included assessment of hybridisation (spike in) controls, labelling (poly-A) controls and area under the curve (AUC) control, probe cell intensity boxplots, a signal histogram graph and principle component analysis (PCA) plot. Following this assessment, the datasets were exported with annotation as a text file or as a CHT file. Affymetrix transcriptome analysis console (version 3.1.0.5) was used to perform unpaired one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).