TWIST1 drives endothelial-to-mesenchymal-transition to stabilize atherosclerotic plaques [Twist1 RNA-Seq]

The effect of TWIST1 deletion was studied in human aortic endothelial cells exposed to atheroprone or atheroprotective wall shear stress. Overall design: Human aortic endothelial cells (HAoECs) were seeded Ibidi slides I 0.4 coated with gelatin and transfected with a TWIST1 siRNA (siT1) or a scrambled siRNA (control, siNT) using the Lipofectamine RNAiMAX transfection system. After a 6 hour incubation, media was replaced and cells were exposed to different flow patterns using the Ibidi flow system for 72 hours. The different flow conditions were: High laminar shear stress (HSS; 13 dynes/cm²), low laminar shear stress (LSS; 4 dynes/cm²) and low oscillatory shear stress (LOSS; ±4 dynes/cm², 0.5 Hz). Total RNA from HAoECs was extracted and analysed using bulk RNA sequencing.