Transcriptional profiling of primary human aortic smooth muscle cells (hAoSMC) isolated from non-anerysmal vs. hAoSMCs isolated from anerysmal abdominal aorta (differential expression analysis) [bulk RNA-seq]

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a pathological widening of the aortic wall characterized by loss of AoSMCs, extracellular matrix degradation and local inflammation. This condition is often asymptomatic until rupture occurs, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates. We aimed at characterizing the transcriptional landscape AoSMCs and to highlight aortic disease-driven changes in gene expression, in terms of contractility, synthetic, inflammation, proliferation and apoptosis markers. To identify AAA-driven differences in the transcriptome of AoSMCs, we performed differential expression analysis in AAA patient-derived primary AoSMCs vs. non-AAA primary AoSMCs donors. We performed RNA sequencing of AoSMCs isolated from 5 AAA patients and 3 non-AAA donors. Sequencing reactions were perfomed in triplicate.