Purpose: The pathogenesis of carotid atherosclerosis (CA) is known to involve several pathologic processes, such as lipid disturbances, thrombosis, oxidative stress and apoptosis. However, the genetic factors contributing to the development of CA, are, poorly understood. Thus, this study was performed to clarify the genes that are related with CA by comparing the expression patterns of mRNA in the arteries of a control group and in the arteries of a CA patients group.
Mathods: The total RNAs in the arteries of both groups were obtained from the abdominal aorta of 5 brain death donors and also the carotid arteries of 10 CA patents, and the DNAs were then reversely transcribed into complementary DNA (cDNA). The annealing control primer (ACP) method was applied to identify the differentially expressed messenger RNAs (mRNAs).
Results: The prominently expressed genes in the CA group compared with the control group were those of apolipoprotein C1 (apoC1) and ferritin light chain (FTL). There was a difference in the gene and protein expressions in the development of vascular disease between the coronary and carotid arteries, i.e., the transcriptional pathway for the FTL expression in CA patient arteries, and the posttranscriptional pathway in the coronary artery disease. The ApoC1 gene was another prominently expressed gene in the current study, and it has been reported to promote apoptosis in the cultured smooth muscle cells of human aorta.
Conclusion: The increased expression of the apoC1 and FTL genes in the carotid artery might increase the possibility of CA via the apoptosis and oxidation of the increased LDL and VLDL. (J Korean Surg Soc 2006;71:56-60)
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