Gene expression profiling of cardiac-specific overexpression of TNF-α in Des-/- myocardium

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α is greatly implicated in heart pathophysiology, while it is upregulated in the failing myocardium. A major target in TNF-α-induced heart failure is the muscle specific intermediate filament cytoskeleton, comprised by desmin. We analysed the effect of cardiac-specific overexpression of TNF-α in the Des-/- myocardium, which is a known model of dilated cardiomyopathy. Hearts of 3 months old mice (n=3) of Des-/- and TNFαDes-/- genotypes were used for whole genome microarray hybridization analysis.

肿瘤坏死因子-α（Tumor Necrosis Factor-α，TNF-α）在心脏病理生理学过程中具有重要调控作用，且在衰竭心肌中表达上调。TNF-α诱导心力衰竭的核心作用靶点为由结蛋白（desmin）构成的肌肉特异性中间丝细胞骨架。本研究分析了心脏特异性过表达TNF-α对结蛋白基因敲除（Des-/-）心肌的影响，该模型是目前公认的扩张型心肌病小鼠模型。本实验选取3月龄的结蛋白基因敲除（Des-/-）与TNF-α过表达结蛋白敲除（TNFαDes-/-）基因型小鼠各3只（n=3）的心脏组织，开展全基因组微阵列杂交分析。