Differences in Expression of Genes Involved in Bone Development and Morphogenesis in the Walls of Internal Thoracic Artery and Saphenous Vein Conduits May Provide Markers Useful for Evaluation Graft Patency

Abstract

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is one of the most efficient procedures for patients with advanced coronary artery disease. From all the blood vessels with the potential to be used in this procedure, the internal thoracic artery (ITA) and the saphenous vein (SV) are the most commonly applied as aortocoronary conduits. Nevertheless, in order to evaluate the graft patency and efficiency effectively, basic knowledge should be constantly expanding at the molecular level as well, as the understanding of predictive factors is still limited. In this study, we have employed the expressive microarray approach, validated with Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), to analyze the transcriptome of both venous and arterial grafts. Searching for potential molecular factors, we analyzed differentially expressed gene ontologies involved in bone development and morphogenesis, for the possibility of discovery of new markers for the evaluation of ITA and SV segment quality. Among three ontological groups of interest—“endochondral bone morphogenesis”, “ossification”, and “skeletal system development”—we found six genes common to all of them. BMP6, SHOX2, COL13A1, CSGALNACT1, RUNX2, and STC1 showed differential expression patterns in both analyzed vessels. STC1 and COL13A1 were upregulated in ITA samples, whereas others were upregulated in SV. With regard to the Runx2 protein function in osteogenic phenotype regulation, the RUNX2 gene seems to be of paramount importance in assessing the potential of ITA, SV, and other vessels used in the CABG procedure. Overall, the presented study provided valuable insight into the molecular background of conduit characterization, and thus indicated genes that may be the target of subsequent studies, also at the protein level. Moreover, it has been suggested that RUNX2 may be recognized as a molecular marker of osteogenic changes in human blood vessels.

Aortocoronary conduits may show a different inflammatory response - comparative study at transcript level

“…Our previous molecular studies on ITA and SV grafts have shown that there are significant discrepancies between these vessels in the level of expression of genes involved in osteogenic changes in these vessels. According to our findings, we have suggested that venous grafts may be more exposed to atherosclerotic changes [3].…”

A Network Pharmacology-Based Study on Pharmacological Activities and Mechanisms of Essential Oil in Leaves of C. Grandis ‘Tomentosa’

“…The PPI analysis was constructed by the open STRING database (https://string-db.org/cgi/input.pl), which contains information on protein/gene interactions, including veri ed experimental data, computational predicted data, and public text collections [29]. The targets of the essential oil composition were imported into the STRING database and the species was de ned as Homo sapiens.…”

In search of markers useful for evaluation of graft patency - molecular analysis of ‘muscle system process’ for internal thoracic artery and saphenous vein conduits

“…The vessels used in CABG are usually the internal thoracic (mammary) artery (ITA/IMA) and saphenous vein (SV), [1,2,4,5], which usually replace the left anterior descending (LAD) [6]. The choice of vessel may depend on the patient's age, as SV is most often chosen in the elderly while young people undergo ITA transplantation [7]. The saphenous vein is a large, subcutaneous and surface vein of the leg which is transplanted in the reverse position so that its venous valves don't obstruct the flow [5].…”