Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE157205: Heart failure impairs the mechanotransduction properties of human cardiac pericytes

Bulk RNA sequencing

Aim of this work is to verify if pericytes (Pc) residing in ischemic failing human hearts display altered mechano-transduction properties and to assess which alterations of the mechano-sensing machinery are associated with the observed impaired response to mechanical cues. Results: microvascular rarefaction and defects of YAP/TAZ activation characterize failing human hearts. Although both donor (D-) and explanted (E-) heart derived cardiac pericytes (CPc) support angiogenesis, D-CPc exert this effect significantly better than E-CPc. The latter are characterized by reduced focal adhesion density, decreased activation of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/ Crk-associated substrate(CAS) pathway, low expression of caveolin-1, and defective transduction of extracellular stiffness into cytoskeletal stiffening, together with an impaired response to both fibronectin and lysophosphatidic acid. Importantly, Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibition restores YAP/TAZ nuclear translocation. SOURCE: Emiliano Dalla (emiliano.dalla@uniud.it) - Università degli Studi di Udine