TWIST1 drives endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition to stabilize atherosclerotic plaques [single cell RNA-seq]

Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was used to analyse the diversity of ECs in the atherosclerotic mouse aorta, as well as the effect of endothelial-specific Twist1 deletion on aortic endothelial cells in mice exposed to a high fat diet. Overall design: 8-10 week old mice were given a high fat diet for 8 weeks. Aftes this, they were injected with tamoxifen for 5 consecutive days to induce gene deletion, and they were fed a high fat diet for 6 weeks longer. The aorta from Twist1 EC-KO mice and Twist1 EC-WT mice was dissected and digested. Single endothelial cells were isolated by Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), selecting CD45-, CD31+ and Topro3- cells. Cells were analyzed using scRNAseq.