State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100037, China.
Vascular Surgery Department, The First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Genomics. 2023 Sep;115(5):110685. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2023.110685. Epub 2023 Jul 16.
Aortic dissection is a devastating cardiovascular disease with a high lethality. Histone variants maintain the genomic integrity and play important roles in development and diseases. However, the role of histone variants in aortic dissection has not been well identified. In the present study, H3f3b knockdown reduced the synthetic genes expression of VSMCs, while overexpressing H3f3b exacerbated the cellular immune response of VSMCs induced by inflammatory cytokines. Combined RNA-seq and ChIP-seq analyses revealed that histone variant H3.3B directly bound to the genes related to extracellular matrix, VSMC synthetic phenotype, cytokine responses and TGFβ signaling pathway, and regulated their expressions. In addition, VSMC-specific H3f3b knockin aggravated aortic dissection development in mice, while H3f3b knockout significantly reduced the incidence of aortic dissection. In term of mechanisms, H3.3B regulated Spp1 and Ccl2 genes, inducing the apoptosis of VSMCs and recruiting macrophages. This study demonstrated the vital roles of H3.3B in phenotypic transition of VSMCs, loss of media VSMCs, and vascular inflammation in aortic dissection.
主动脉夹层是一种具有高致死率的破坏性心血管疾病。组蛋白变体维持基因组完整性,并在发育和疾病中发挥重要作用。然而,组蛋白变体在主动脉夹层中的作用尚未得到很好的确定。在本研究中,H3f3b 的敲低降低了 VSMCs 的合成基因表达,而过表达 H3f3b 加剧了炎症细胞因子诱导的 VSMCs 的细胞免疫反应。联合 RNA-seq 和 ChIP-seq 分析表明,组蛋白变体 H3.3B 直接与细胞外基质、VSMC 合成表型、细胞因子反应和 TGFβ 信号通路相关的基因结合,并调节它们的表达。此外,VSMC 特异性 H3f3b 敲入加重了小鼠主动脉夹层的发展,而 H3f3b 敲除则显著降低了主动脉夹层的发生率。在机制方面,H3.3B 调节 Spp1 和 Ccl2 基因,诱导 VSMCs 凋亡并招募巨噬细胞。本研究证明了 H3.3B 在 VSMCs 的表型转化、中膜 VSMCs 的丢失和主动脉夹层中的血管炎症中的重要作用。