Single-cell 'omic profiles of human aortic endothelial cells in vitro and human atherosclerotic lesions ex vivo reveal heterogeneity of endothelial subtype and response to activating perturbations

© 2023, Adelus et al..

Heterogeneity in endothelial cell (EC) sub-phenotypes is becoming increasingly appreciated in atherosclerosis progression. Still, studies quantifying EC heterogeneity across whole transcriptomes and epigenomes in both in vitro and in vivo models are lacking. Multiomic profiling concurrently measuring transcriptomes and accessible chromatin in the same single cells was performed on six distinct primary cultures of human aortic ECs (HAECs) exposed to activating environments characteristic of the atherosclerotic microenvironment in vitro. Meta-analysis of single-cell transcriptomes across 17 human ex vivo arterial specimens was performed and two computational approaches quantitatively evaluated the similarity in molecular profiles between heterogeneous in vitro and ex vivo cell profiles. HAEC cultures were reproducibly populated by four major clusters with distinct pathway enrichment profiles and modest heterogeneous responses: EC1-angiogenic, EC2-proliferative, EC3-activated/mesenchymal-like, and EC4-mesenchymal. Quantitative comparisons between in vitro and ex vivo transcriptomes confirmed EC1 and EC2 as most canonically EC-like, and EC4 as most mesenchymal with minimal effects elicited by siERG and IL1B. Lastly, accessible chromatin regions unique to EC2 and EC4 were most enriched for coronary artery disease (CAD)-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms from Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), suggesting that these cell phenotypes harbor CAD-modulating mechanisms. Primary EC cultures contain markedly heterogeneous cell subtypes defined by their molecular profiles. Surprisingly, the perturbations used here only modestly shifted cells between subpopulations, suggesting relatively stable molecular phenotypes in culture. Identifying consistently heterogeneous EC subpopulations between in vitro and ex vivo models should pave the way for improving in vitro systems while enabling the mechanisms governing heterogeneous cell state decisions.

Errataetall:

UpdateOf: bioRxiv. 2024 Jan 17;:. - PMID 37066416

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:12

Enthalten in:

eLife - 12(2024) vom: 05. Apr.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Adelus, Maria L [VerfasserIn]
Ding, Jiacheng [VerfasserIn]
Tran, Binh T [VerfasserIn]
Conklin, Austin C [VerfasserIn]
Golebiewski, Anna K [VerfasserIn]
Stolze, Lindsey K [VerfasserIn]
Whalen, Michael B [VerfasserIn]
Cusanovich, Darren A [VerfasserIn]
Romanoski, Casey E [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Atherosclerosis
Chromatin
Chromosomes
ERG
Endothelial cells
Epigenetics
Gene expression
Genetics
Genomics
Human
Inflammation
Journal Article
Meta-Analysis
Vascular biology

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 08.04.2024

Date Revised 12.04.2024

published: Electronic

GEO: GSE228428, GSE155512, GSE159677, GSE131778

UpdateOf: bioRxiv. 2024 Jan 17;:. - PMID 37066416

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.7554/eLife.91729

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM370680898