GSE115311
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Gene Knockout Reveals a Guardian Role of NF-kB/RelA in Maintaining the Homeostasis of Human Vascular Cells
Dysfunction of blood vessels leads to severe vasculature pathogenesis. Previous studies have demonstrated that constitutive NFkB activation results in chronic vascular inflammation, leading to various cardiovascular diseases. However, how NFkB regulates blood vessel homeostasis remains largely elusive. Here, using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing, we generated RelA knockout human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and differentiated them into human vascular derivatives to study how NFkB modulates vascular cells under basal and inflammatory conditions. Multi-dimensional phenotypic assessments and transcriptomic analyses revealed that RelA deficiency affected vascular cells via modulating vascular inflammation, survival, vasculogenesis, differentiation and extracellular matrix organization in a cell type-specific manner under basal condition, and that RelA protected vascular cells against apoptosis and modulated vascular inflammatory response upon TNFa stimuli. Lastly, further evaluation of gene expression patterns in IkBa knockout vascular cells demonstrated that IkBa acted largely independent of NFkB signaling pathway. Taken together, our data reveals a protective role of NFkB/RelA in modulating human blood vessel homeostasis and maps the human vascular transcriptomic landscapes for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Overall design: Transcriptomic analyses of WT, RelA and IkBa deficiency vascular cells under basal and inflammatory condition.