title: Gene expression profile in cardiovascular disease and preeclampsia: a meta-analysis of the transcriptome based on raw data from human studies deposited in Gene Expression Omnibus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and preeclampsia (PE) share common clinical features. We aimed to identify common transcriptomic signatures involved in CVD and PE in humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Meta-analysis of individual raw microarray data deposited in GEO, obtained from blood samples of patients with CVD versus controls and placental samples from women with PE versus healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Annotation of cases versus control samples was taken directly from the microarray documentation. Genes that showed a significant differential expression in the majority of experiments were selected for subsequent analysis. Hypergeometric gene list analysis was performed using Bioconductor GOstats package. Bioinformatic analysis was performed in PANTHER.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven studies in CVD and 5 studies in PE were eligible for meta-analysis. A total of 181 genes were found to be differentially expressed in microarray studies investigating gene expression in blood samples obtained from patients with CVD compared to controls and 925 genes were differentially expressed between preeclamptic and healthy placentas. Among these differentially expressed genes, 22 were common between CVD and PE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bioinformatic analysis of these genes revealed oxidative stress, p-53 pathway feedback, inflammation mediated by chemokines and cytokines, interleukin signaling, B-cell activation, PDGF signaling, Wnt signaling, integrin signaling and Alzheimer disease pathways to be involved in the pathophysiology of both CVD and PE. Metabolism, development, response to stimulus, immune response and cell communication were the associated biologic processes in both conditions. Gene set enrichment analysis showed the following overlapping pathways between CVD and PE: TGF-β-signaling, apoptosis, graft-versus-host disease, allograft rejection, chemokine signaling, steroid hormone synthesis, type I and II diabetes mellitus, VEGF signaling, pathways in cancer, GNRH signaling, Huntingtons disease and Notch signaling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CVD and PE share same common traits in their gene expression profile indicating common pathways in their pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Norway. Electronic address: vsitras@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sitras
authors.affiliation: Microarray Resource Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.affiliation: Women's Health and Perinatology Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway; Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Acharya
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D030541:Databases, Genetic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Gene expression; Meta-analysis; Microarrays; Preeclampsia