Shear stress-induced long non-coding RNA, NIMBUSS, is required for the KLF2-mediated gene expression profile associated with vascular homeostasis II

To investigate the regulation of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcriptome of endothelial cells in response to shear stress, gene expression profiling was performed using a microarray for both protein-coding genes and lncRNAs. The expression of known flow-induced protein coding genes, eNOS, KLF2, and KLF4, were quantified using real-time PCR. Identifying lncRNAs that are up-regulated or down-regulated in the presence or absence of laminar flow will provide insight into gene regulatory mechanisms that contribute to vascular homeostasis or disease. Five independent human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) lines were subjected to either static or non-pulsatile, laminar flow (10 dynes/cm2, 48 hours) and total RNA was isolated. RNA was analyzed using the human lncRNA expression microarray V3.0 (Arraystar) which profiles the expression of 30,586 lncRNAs and 26,109 protein-coding genes. Total 10 samples: 5 static and 5 flow samples.