title: Vascular gene expression in atherosclerotic plaque-prone regions analyzed by representational difference analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Atherosclerotic plaques are known to develop and progress where the endothelium is subjected to turbulent blood flow. We have applied cDNA representational difference analysis (RDA) to study vascular gene expression in mouse aorta in a model for atherosclerosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gene expression profiles were investigated in plaque-prone and plaque-resistant localizations in the ascending aorta and arch in 8-week-old ApoE-/- and LDLR-/- mice. Total RNA was extracted and two rounds of subtraction were performed; the difference products were characterized in detail by shotgun cloning and analysis of more than 2,700 gene sequences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The identified differentially expressed gene sequences include both genes with known involvement in vascular gene expression and genes previously not implicated in vascular processes. For example, CD36 and caveolin, previously reported for their participation in the progression of atherosclerosis, were found to have an increased expression in vessel localizations thought to be especially susceptible to plaque formation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report provides new in vivo information of expressed genes that can be useful for further investigations of the molecular mechanisms in focal localization of atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Stina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boräng
authors.forename: Tove
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thelin
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Odeberg
authors.forename: Joakim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lundeberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction