title: Endogenous Reference Genes for Gene Expression Studies on Bicuspid Aortic Valve Associated Aortopathy in Humans.
abstract: Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease is the most common congenital cardiac abnormality and predisposes patients to life-threatening aortic complications including aortic aneurysm. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is one of the most commonly used methods to investigate underlying molecular mechanisms involved in aortopathy. The accuracy of the gene expression data is dependent on normalization by appropriate housekeeping (HK) genes, whose expression should remain constant regardless of aortic valve morphology, aortic diameter and other factors associated with aortopathy. Here, we identified an appropriate set of HK genes to be used as endogenous reference for quantifying gene expression in ascending aortic tissue using a spin column-based RNA extraction method. Ascending aortic biopsies were collected intra-operatively from patients undergoing aortic valve and/or ascending aortic surgery. These patients had BAV or tricuspid aortic valve (TAV), and the aortas were either dilated (≥4.5cm) or undilated. The cohort had an even distribution of gender, valve disease and hypertension. The expression stability of 12 reference genes were investigated (ATP5B, ACTB, B2M, CYC1, EIF4A2, GAPDH, SDHA, RPL13A, TOP1, UBC, YWHAZ, and 18S) using geNorm software. The most stable HK genes were found to be GAPDH, UBC and ACTB. Both GAPDH and UBC demonstrated relative stability regardless of valve morphology, aortic diameter, gender and age. The expression of B2M and SDHA were found to be the least stable HK genes. We propose the use of GAPDH, UBC and ACTB as reference genes for gene expression studies of BAV aortopathy using ascending aortic tissue.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Oliver J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Narain
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moorjani
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torrens
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sunil K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ohri
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Felino R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Cagampang
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000378:metabolism; D000082882:Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D020043:Genes, Essential; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012313:RNA / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors; D025822:Ubiquitin C / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D025822:Ubiquitin C; D012313:RNA; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases