Comparison of gene expression profiles in aortic dissection and normal human aortic tissues

The aim of the present study was to compare the gene expression profiles in aortic dissection (AD) and healthy human aortic tissue samples by DNA microarray analysis in order to screen the differential genes. In total, five AD and four healthy aortic specimens were selected; the total RNA was extracted and reverse transcribed into cDNA and in vitro transcribed into aRNA, followed by microarray hybridization for analysis. Thereafter, the transcription levels of six differential genes, myosin light chain kinase (MYLK), polycystin 1, transient receptor potential channel interacting (PKD-1), myosin heavy chain 11 (MYH11), superoxide dismutase 3, extracellular (SOD3), filamin A (FLNA), and transgelin (TAGLN), screened from the expression profiles were quantitatively verified. Compared with the healthy aortic specimens, a total of 1,661 genes in the AD group demonstrated more than 2-fold differential expression, of which 997 genes were upregulated and 664 genes were downregulated. Thereafter, six AD-associated genes that showed downregulation in the microarray assay were selected for quantitatively verifying the gene transcription level using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), which confirmed their downregulation compared with the healthy aortic tissue genes; of the six genes, the expression levels of MYLK, PKD-1, MYH11, SOD3 and TAGLN were significantly downregulated (P<0.05), while the expression of FLNA was not significantly downregulated (P>0.05). Thus, whole genome microarray may be used to screen differentially expressed genes between AD and healthy aortic tissues. When used in combination with RT-qPCR validation, this method may provide novel strategies for investigating AD.