Development of gene expression signatures for vein graft restenosis following vascular grafting

To further development of our gene expression approach to cardiovascular disease, we have employed microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform to identify genes with the potential to distinguish the therapeutic target of the vein graft restenosis following coronary artery bypass grafting. Vein graft samples were obtained from model rats which received external jugular vein-carotid bypass grafting at different postoperative timepoints (n=3/group; day 7, 14 and 28, respectively). Vein samples were also obtained from control rats without vascular grafting (n=3/group; day 0). Time-dependent gene expression profiles were described with microarray analysis. Expression of three lncRNA-mRNA pairs (AF062402-Src, BC091437-Edg1 and BC166461- Mcam) from this signature were quantified in the same RNA samples by real-time PCR, confirming the accuracy of the microarray data.为进一步完善我们针对心血管疾病的基因表达研究策略，我们采用基因芯片表达谱分析（microarray expression profiling）作为发现平台，旨在筛选出可用于鉴别冠状动脉旁路移植术后静脉移植再狭窄治疗靶点的潜在基因。本研究的静脉移植样本取自接受颈外静脉-颈动脉旁路移植术的模型大鼠，取材于术后不同时间点（每组3只大鼠，分别对应术后第7、14和28天）。同时，我们从未接受血管移植的对照组大鼠中获取静脉样本（每组3只大鼠，取材于术后第0天）。通过基因芯片分析，我们获取了随时间动态变化的基因表达谱。此外，我们通过实时荧光定量PCR（real-time PCR）对该特征基因集中的3组长链非编码RNA-信使RNA对（lncRNA-mRNA pairs）——AF062402-Src、BC091437-Edg1及BC166461-Mcam——在相同RNA样本中的表达水平进行了定量验证，证实了基因芯片数据的准确性。