H3K27ac profiling in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells through chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing
Portal hypertension (PHTN) is a severe complication of liver cirrhosis. It is associated with intrahepatic sinusoidal remodeling induced by sinusoidal resistance and angiogenesis. Collagen type IV (COL4), a major component of basement membrane (BM), forms in liver sinusoids upon chronic liver injury. However, the cellular source and transcriptional regulation of COL4, as well as how it progresses in liver diseases is unknown. Here, we examined how COL4 is produced and how it regulates sinusoidal remodeling in PHTN. RNA-seq analysis on human cirrhotic livers revealed an increase in COL4 expression, which was further confirmed via immunofluorescence (IF) staining. scRNA-seq analysis identified Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) as the predominant source of COL4 expression in mouse liver, which was upregulated in a TNFa-NF?B dependent manner. Epigenetic repression of enhancer-promoter interaction silences COL4 gene expression via dCas9-KRAB-mediated epigenome editing approach. LSEC-specific COL4 mutation or repression abrogated sinusoidal resistance and angiogenesis, thereby alleviated sinusoidal remodeling and PHTN. Our findings reveal LSECs as a major source of COL4 in the liver which plays a prominent role in sinusoidal remodeling and PHTN. Overall design: Chromatin immunoprecipitation DNA-sequencing (ChIP-seq) for histone modification H3K27ac in liver sinusoidal endothelial cell for identifying potential regulatory elements