Comparison of gene expression profiles of human peripheral blood derived endothelial colony-forming cells and coronary artery endothelial cells

Aim. To compare gene expression profiles of CFEC to human coronary artery endothelial cells, based on the results of whole transcriptome analysis.

Methods. CFEC were isolated from peripheral blood of patients during percutaneous coronary intervention. Human coronary artery endothelial cells were purchased from Cell Applications (300K-05a, USA). Cells were lysed with TRIzol with the following total RNA isolation and DNAse treatment. Then rRNA depletion was performed, followed by DNA library preparation. DNA libraries were then quantified by qPCR (CFX96 Touch, Bio-Rad, USA), pooled in equimolar amounts and sequenced (HiSeq 2000, Illumina) using 2 * 125 bp chemistry.

Results. RNA-seq demonstrated that CFEC were generally similar to human coronary artery endothelial cells, regarding their global gene expression profile. However, CFEC overexpressed specific markers of all endothelial lineages (NRP2, NOTCH4, LYVE1), in particular, lymphatic EC (LYVE1) and had upregulated extracellular matrix and basement membrane genes (COLlAl, COL1A2, COL4A1, COL4A2).

Conclusion. Baseline gene expression in CFEC is close to that of human coronary artery endothelial cells, testifying about their utility for the seeding of tubular scaffolds before the implantation to improve their short- and long-term performance.

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