Regression of Atherosclerosis Is Characterized by Broad Changes in the Plaque Macrophage Transcriptome
Figure 5
Multivariate causal pathway analysis for genes involved in regression.
(A) Heatmap displaying the relative levels of the 6 genes selected by HITON-PC algorithm for causal relationship to regression vs. progression/baseline task (Y-axis) in each of the 22 analyzed aortic samples (X-axis). B) RNA was isolated from laser captured CD68+ cells. qPCR was then performed in order to validate microarray results. The symbol * corresponds to statistical significance, p<0.05, when signal in RNA from aortas in regression (apoE −/−) was compared to signal in RNA from aortas in progression (WT). 9 mice were analyzed per group. GAPDH was used for normalization. C) Immunostaining for vinculin in a plaque derived from an aortic arch transplanted from an apoE−/− mouse into a wild type normolipidemic mouse (apoE−/− > WT) and from an apoE−/− mouse into a different apoE−/− mouse (apoE−/− > apoE−/−).