Function of LIM-only protein FHL2 in vascular smooth muscle cells

The LIM-only protein FHL2 is expressed in SMCs and inhibits SMC-rich lesion formation. However, the underlying mechanism behind FHL2's action in SMCs has been only partially resolved. To further elucidate the role of FHL2 in SMCs we compared the transcriptome of cultured SMCs derived from wild-type (WT) and FHL2-knockout (KO) mice. Comparison of gene expression in aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) isolated from WT and FHL2-knockout (FHL2-KO) mice. SMCs isolated from three mouse aortas were pooled (Kurakula et al, PLOS One, 2014). Both for WT and FHL-KO mice three batches of SMCs (derived from 9 mice) were cultured. The SMCs were grown to confluency and maintained in serum-free medium for 48 hrs before harvest. Subsequently, RNA was isolated for gene expression profiling.