Transcriptomic profiling of ZMPSTE24 knockout endothelial cells: implication of endothelial dysfunction in HGPS

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is an ultrarare and fatal disease with features of premature aging and cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and stroke). The molecular basis underlying premature aging driven cardiovascular diseases remains incompletely understood. Since endothelial dysfunction is involved in the initiation and progression of cardiovascular diseases. We hypothesized that HGPS-causing progerin (a mutant form of lamin A) and farnesylated prelamin A drives endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease. In our study, we performed transcriptomic profiling of ZMPSTE24-/- mouse endothelial cells, hoping to find the missing link between progeria and atherosclerosis. We observed that ZMPSTE24-/- endothelial cells have increased farnesylated prelamin A accumulation, and show nuclear structure abnormality. Analysis of RNA-seq data revealed that multiple endothelial homeostasis-related genes and pathways are altered by ZMPSTE24 deletion. Further studies are needed to characterize the biological functions of ZMPSTE24 in the pathogenesis of progeria-associated atherosclerosis.