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Updated: May 12, 2026
Protein Isolation from the Developing Embryonic Mouse Heart Valve Region
Published on: September 23, 2014
Aorta-specific DNA methylation patterns in cell-free DNA from patients with bicuspid aortic valve-associated
Ashna Maredia1,2,3, David Guzzardi3, Mohammad Aleinati2,3
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Background:
The dilation of the aorta that occurs as a consequence of a congenitally bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is associated with a risk of dissection, aneurysm or rupture. With progressive aortopathy, surgery is often recommended, but current patient selection strategies have limitations. A blood-based assay to identify those who would most benefit from prophylactic surgery would be an important medical advance. In a proof-of-concept study, we sought to identify aorta-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) detectable in plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) obtained from patients undergoing surgery for BAV-associated aortopathy.
Methods:
We used bioinformatics and publicly available human methylomes to identify aorta-specific DMRs. We used data from 4D-flow cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to identify regions of elevated aortic wall shear stress (WSS) in patients with BAV-associated aortopathy undergoing surgery and correlated WSS regions with aortic tissue cell death assessed using TUNEL staining. Cell-free DNA was isolated from patient plasma, and levels of candidate DMRs were correlated with aortic diameter and aortic wall cell death.
Results:
Aortic wall cell death was not associated with maximal aortic diameter but was significantly associated with elevated WSS. We identified 24 candidate aorta-specific DMRs and selected 4 for further study. A DMR on chromosome 11 was specific for the aorta and correlated significantly with aortic wall cell death. Plasma levels of total and aorta-specific cfDNA did not correlate with aortic diameter.
Conclusions:
In a cohort of patients undergoing surgery for BAV-associated aortopathy, elevated WSS created by abnormal flow hemodynamics was associated with increased aortic wall cell death which supports the use of aorta-specific cfDNA as a potential tool to identify aortopathy and stratify patient risk.
