Transcriptomic data of whole liver from Alk1-(alias Acvrl1) knockout mice I

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT, alias Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease that causes vascular malformations in multiple organs. Malformations and shunts in the liver are relevant for the long-term prognosis as they can lead to heart failure. Moreover, the role of ALK-1 in the hepatic vascular niche remains elusive. In this project, we aimed to establish a novel HHT model covering hepatic involvement by the disease and to investigate the role of ALK-1 in the hepatic vascular niche. We crossed Stab2-icre mice (MGI: 6741034) with Acvrl1-floxed mice (MGI: 4398901) to generate constitutive hepatic endothelial Acvrl1 knockout (Acvrl1-HEC-KO, alias Alk1-HEC-KO) mice. To dissect hepatic transcriptomic alterations, we performed RNA sequencing of freshly isolated whole liver cells from 3 months old mice. Transcriptomic analyses revealed an arterialization of hepatic vessels accompanied by loss of LYVE-1 and induction of Endomucin. The loss of endothelial Wnt2, Wnt9b, and Rspo3 led to a disruption of hepatic metabolic zonation with a dominance of periportal genes in Alk1-HEC-KO mice and HHT patients. Furthermore, we identified PRND (alias Doppel) and placenta growth factor (PlGF) as novel candidates of HHT pathogenesis in mice. ALK-1 controls hepatic metabolic zonation via Wnt signaling and suppresses PRND and PlGF that represent novel candidates in HHT pathogenesis. Overall design: 5 Alk1-Knockout samples vs. 5 control samples