Adenosine-treated endothelial progenitor cells

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of the cardioprotective nucleoside adenosine on gene expression in early and late endothelial progenitor cells. Adenosine mod Early outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells were obtained by adhesion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy volunteers. Late endothelial progenitor cells were obtained by purification of CD34+ peripheral blood cells and were cultured and amplified in endothelial-specific medium containing growth factors. Both cell types were treated by adenosine (10micromol/L) for 6 hours. Total RNA was extracted using conventional Trizol extraction, quantified by Nanodrop and analyzed by Bioanalyzer. 1microg of RNA was amplified using AminoAllyl MessageAmp kit. 5µg amino allyl-coupled RNA was labeled with Cy3 or Cy5 dyes. Dye coupling yield >5% was a prerequisite for further analysis. 750ng of labeled RNA was hybridized on 25,000 gene microarrays for 17 hours at 60°C. 4 arrays per sample were hybridized and scanned with the Genepix 4000B Scanner (Molecular Devices). Six independent experiments were performed. Microarray data quantification and pre-processing was performed with the MAIA software and intensity values were log-transformed. Gene expression values were standardized across experiments with mean = 0 and standard deviation = 1. The SAM tool was applied to identify differentially expressed genes.