Heart failure: Pilot transcriptomic analysis of cardiac tissue by RNA-sequencing

Area of Science:

• Molecular Biology
• Cardiovascular Research
• Genomics

Background:

• Left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is a major cause of mortality in chronic heart failure (HF).
• The molecular mechanisms underlying LV failure remain poorly understood, and effective myocardial biomarkers are lacking.
• This pilot study aimed to identify specific transcriptome changes in HF cardiac tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate transcriptome alterations in cardiac tissues of patients with heart failure (HF).
• To identify potential novel myocardial biomarkers for improved diagnosis and treatment of LV dysfunction.
• To compare gene and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expression profiles in HF patients versus healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• Selected a homogeneous population of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) patients without a family history of the disease.
• Performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) on cardiac tissue samples from HF patients and healthy donors.
• Utilized RNA-SeqGUI for data analysis, including filtering and normalization of read counts.

Main Results:

• Identified DCM- and RCM-specific expression signatures for protein-coding genes and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs).
• Disclosed differential expression of 5 genes encoding members of the mediator complex.
• Found significant alterations in 27 lncRNA/mRNA pairs and identified previously unassociated genes in HF patients.

Conclusions:

• Revealed distinct expression patterns of protein-coding genes and lncRNAs in heart failure (HF) patients.
• Confirmed the potential of Next-Generation Sequencing-based approaches for identifying novel LV myocardial biomarkers.
• Suggests new avenues for diagnosing and potentially treating heart failure.