Co-expression gene network analysis reveals novel regulatory pathways involved in porto-sinusoidal vascular disease

Background & Aims Porto-sinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD) is a rare vascular liver disease of unknown etiology that causes portal hypertension. It usually affects young individuals and shortens live expectancy. The deregulated pathways involved in PSVD development are unknown and therefore we l...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernández-Gea, Virginia, Campreciós, Genis, Betancourt, Fabián, Pérez Campuzano, Valeria, Seijo, Susana, Díaz, Alba, Romero Gómez, Manuel, García-Pagán, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/141252
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/141252
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2021.05.014
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:porto sinusoidal vascular disease
non-cirrhotic portal hypertension
portal hypertension
vascular liver disease
trasncriptomic analysis
system biology
Descripción
Sumario:Background & Aims Porto-sinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD) is a rare vascular liver disease of unknown etiology that causes portal hypertension. It usually affects young individuals and shortens live expectancy. The deregulated pathways involved in PSVD development are unknown and therefore we lack curative treatments. The purpose of this study was to integrate transcriptomic and clinical data by comprehensive network-based modeling in order to uncover altered biological processes in patients with PSVD. Methods We obtained liver tissue samples from 20 consecutive patients with PSVD and 21 sex- and age-matched patients with cirrhosis and 13 histologically normal livers (HNL) (initial cohort) and performed transcriptomic analysis. Microarray data were analyzed using weighted gene correlation network analysis to identify clusters of highly correlated genes differently expressed in patients with PSVD. We next evaluated the molecular pathways enriched in patients with PSVD and the core-related genes from the most significantly enriched pathways in patients with PSVD. Our main findings were validated using RNA sequencing in a different cohort of PSVD, cirrhosis and HNL (n = 8 for each group). Results Patients with PSVD have a distinctive genetic profile enriched mainly in canonical pathways involving hemostasis and coagulation but also lipid metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation. Serpin family (SERPINC1), the apolipoproteins (APOA, APOB, APOC), ATP synthases (ATP5G1, ATP5B), fibrinogen genes (FGB, FGA) and alpha-2-macroglobulin were identified as highly connective genes that may have an important role in PSVD pathogenesis. Conclusion PSVD has a unique transcriptomic profile and we have identified deregulation of pathways involved in vascular homeostasis as the main pathogenic event of disease development. Lay summary Porto-sinusoidal vascular disease is a rare but life-shortening disease that affects mainly young people. Knowledge of the disrupted pathways involved in its development will help to identify novel therapeutic targets and new treatments. Using a systems biology approach, we identify that pathways regulating endothelial function and tone may act as drivers of porto-sinusoidal vascular disease.