Regional transcriptomics of a human left atrium and implications for atrial fibrillation

Regional differential expression of atrial fibrillation risk genes in the left atrium and pulmonary veins is not well studied, but may yield insights into atrial fibrillation pathogenesis. We tested the hypothesis that there is significant regional differential expression in left atrium structures. RNAseq was performed in 25 regions within the pulmonary veins (n=12), left atrial body (n=10), and left atrial appendage (n=3) from a 75 year old male with hypertension and atrial fibrillation who died of a stroke. These data show that genes involved in atrial fibrillation pathogenesis have substantial regional expression heterogeneity, particularly when comparing the left atrial body, pulmonary veins and left atrial appendage. Overall design: RNAseq was performed in 25 regions from the left atria of a single male patient.

左心房与肺静脉内心房颤动风险基因的区域差异表达尚未得到充分研究，但其或可为心房颤动发病机制研究提供重要见解。本研究针对心房结构存在显著区域差异表达这一假说展开验证。我们对1名75岁高血压合并心房颤动且因卒中死亡的男性患者的25个区域样本进行了RNA测序（RNA-seq），样本分别取自肺静脉（n=12）、左心房体部（n=10）及左心耳（n=3）。本数据集结果显示，参与心房颤动发病机制的基因存在显著的区域表达异质性，尤其在左心房体部、肺静脉与左心耳之间的差异尤为突出。实验整体设计：对1名单一男性患者的左心房25个区域样本进行RNA测序。