Sox13 is a novel flow-sensitive transcription factor that prevents inflammation by repressing chemokine expression in endothelial cells

SOX13 was identified as a novel flow-sensitive transceiption factor. We found that siRNA-mediated knockdown of SOX13 increased endothelial inflammatory responses even under the unidirectional laminar shear stress (ULS, mimicking s-flow) condition. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we conducted an RNAseq study in HAECs treated with SOX13 siRNA under shear conditions (ULS vs. oscillatory shear mimicking d-flow). We found 94 downregulated and 40 upregulated genes that changed in a shear- and SOX13-dependent manner. Several cytokines, including CXCL10 and CCL5, were the most strongly upregulated genes in HAECs treated with SOX13 siRNA. HAECs treated with siRNA against SOX13 or control siRNA for 24h were subjected to unidirectional laminar shear stress (LS) or oscillatory shear stress (OS) for the following 24h (n=4 biological replicates in each group). Total RNAs were collected and submitted for RNAsequencing