Transcriptional profiles of ageing human pulmonary blood vessel endothelial cells after their exposure to human serum from healthy donors and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients

Human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) from older individual are considered a homogenous population in culture. We used single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) to analyse transcriptional profiles of these cells in culture HPMEC were purified using magnet assisted cell sorting (MACS) to remove PDPN-positive human pulmonary lymphatic vessel endothelial cells (HPLEC), leaving PDPN-negative human pulmonary blood vessel endothelial cells (HPBEC). The HPBEC were then cultured using human serum from healthy donors and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients to assess disease-associated changes in transcriptional profiles of these cells.