title: Mitogen-activated protein kinase signal pathways play an important role in right ventricular hypertrophy of tetralogy of Fallot.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common malformation of children with an incidence of approximately 10% of congenital heart disease patients. There can be a wide spectrum to the severity of the anatomic defects, which include ventricular septal defect, aortic override, right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and right ventricular hypertrophy. We examined the relationship between right ventricular hypertrophy in patients with TOF and the gene expression of factors in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal pathway.
  
  
  METHODS
  To gain insight into the characteristic gene(s) involved in molecular mechanisms of right ventricular hypertrophy in TOF, differential mRNA and micro RNA expression profiles were assessed using expression-based micro array technology on right ventricular biopsies from young TOF patients who underwent primary correction and on normal heart tissue. We then analyzed the gene expression of the MAPK signal pathway using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in normals and TOF patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the micro RNA chip V3.0 and human whole genome oligonucleotide microarray V1.0 to detect the gene expression, we found 1068 genes showing altered expression of at least two-fold in TOF patients compared to the normal hearts, and 47 micro RNAs that showed a significant difference of at least two-fold in TOF patients. We then analyzed these mRNAs and micro RNAs by target gene predicting software Microcosm Targets version 5.0, and determined those mRNA highly relevant to the right ventricular hypertrophy by RT-PCR method. There were obvious differences in the gene expression of factors in the MAPK signal pathway when using RT-PCR, which was consistent to the results of the cDNA microarray.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The upregulation of genes in the MAPK signal pathway may be the key events that contribute to right ventricular hypertrophy and stunted angiogenesis in patients with TOF.
authors.affiliation: Heart Center, First Hospital of Tsinghua University, Beijing 100016, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qing-Yu
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yu-Xiang
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chao-Xiang
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Shui
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D017380:Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular / Q000235:genetics*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013771:Tetralogy of Fallot / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases