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Epigenome-Guided Analysis of the Transcriptome of Plaque Macrophages during Atherosclerosis Regression Reveals Activation of the Wnt Signaling Pathway

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Title Epigenome-Guided Analysis of the Transcriptome of Plaque Macrophages during Atherosclerosis Regression Reveals Activation of the Wnt Signaling Pathway
Names Ramsey, Stephen A. (creator)
Vengrenyuk, Yuliya (creator)
Menon, Prashanthi (creator)
Podolsky, Irina (creator)
Feig, Jonathan E. (creator)
Aderem, Alan (creator)
Fisher, Edward A. (creator)
Gold, Elizabeth S. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-12-04 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by the Public Library of Science. The published article can be found at: http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/.
Abstract We report the first systems biology investigation of regulators controlling arterial plaque macrophage transcriptional
changes in response to lipid lowering in vivo in two distinct mouse models of atherosclerosis regression. Transcriptome
measurements from plaque macrophages from the Reversa mouse were integrated with measurements from an aortic
transplant-based mouse model of plaque regression. Functional relevance of the genes detected as differentially expressed
in plaque macrophages in response to lipid lowering in vivo was assessed through analysis of gene functional annotations,
overlap with in vitro foam cell studies, and overlap of associated eQTLs with human atherosclerosis/CAD risk SNPs. To
identify transcription factors that control plaque macrophage responses to lipid lowering in vivo, we used an integrative
strategy – leveraging macrophage epigenomic measurements – to detect enrichment of transcription factor binding sites
upstream of genes that are differentially expressed in plaque macrophages during regression. The integrated analysis
uncovered eight transcription factor binding site elements that were statistically overrepresented within the 5' regulatory
regions of genes that were upregulated in plaque macrophages in the Reversa model under maximal regression conditions
and within the 5' regulatory regions of genes that were upregulated in the aortic transplant model during regression. Of
these, the TCF/LEF binding site was present in promoters of upregulated genes related to cell motility, suggesting that the
canonical Wnt signaling pathway may be activated in plaque macrophages during regression. We validated this network-based
prediction by demonstrating that β-catenin expression is higher in regressing (vs. control group) plaques in both
regression models, and we further demonstrated that stimulation of canonical Wnt signaling increases macrophage
migration in vitro. These results suggest involvement of canonical Wnt signaling in macrophage emigration from the plaque
during lipid lowering-induced regression, and they illustrate the discovery potential of an epigenome-guided, systems
approach to understanding atherosclerosis regression.
Genre Article
Access Condition http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Identifier Ramsey, S. A., Vengrenyuk, Y., Menon, P., Podolsky, I., Feig, J. E., et al. (2014). Epigenome-Guided Analysis of the Transcriptome of Plaque Macrophages during Atherosclerosis Regression Reveals Activation of the Wnt Signaling Pathway. PLoS Genetics, 10(12), e1004828. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004828

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