# SERPINE1 Gene Is a Reliable Molecular Marker for the Early Diagnosis of Aortic Dissection

Authors: Dong Li; Cang-Song Xiao; Lei Chen; Yang Wu; Wei Jiang; Sheng-Li Jiang
Journal: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
 (2022)

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## Abstract

With the acceleration of population aging, the detection rate of aortic dissection has increased. The incidence rate of aortic dissection has increased year by year and has become a serious threat to human health. However, the current clinical treatment of aortic dissection is mainly limited to surgery (including intracavity), but the complexity of the disease and the high risk of surgery seriously affect the overall treatment effect of the disease. Therefore, an in-depth study of the pathogenesis of aortic dissection and the development of early diagnosis methods is not only expected to control the development of aortic dissection but also to improve the existing clinical treatment effect. Based on the bioinformatics analysis of the related mRNA sequence data of aortic dissection in GEO database, the gene expression regulatory network of aortic dissection was constructed. Through the screening of key node genes, the key factors (molecular markers) that may affect the occurrence of aortic dissection were obtained, and their functions were tested in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HAoSMC). Finally, it was concluded that SERPINE1 gene is a reliable molecular marker for the early diagnosis of aortic dissection.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

Aortic dissection (AD) is a fatal vascular disease in which blood enters the middle layer of the vessel wall through a tear in the inner lining of the aortic wall and forms a dissecting hematoma along the aortic wall [1]. The incidence of aortic coarctation is 0.005% to 0.03% per year [2, 3]. It is common, but the mortality rate is high. The mortality rate increases by 1% per hour for the first 48 hours and a large number of patients die en route to the hospital or before the diagnosis is confirmed. Current treatment options include percutaneous endovascular exclusion and open-heart surgery. These treatments are not only very traumatic for the patient but also put more financial pressure on the patient and his family. According to the patient’s blood pressure, tumor diameter, and other comprehensive consideration, surgical treatment is worth considering. Because of myocardial infarction, renal failure, stroke, paraplegia, and other postoperative complications, even patients undergoing surgery have a higher risk of death. Moreover, with the acceleration of population aging, the detection rate of aortic dissection has increased and the incidence rate of aortic dissection has increased year by year and has become a serious threat to human health. However, clinical management of aortic coarctation is currently limited mainly to surgery (including endoluminal), but the complexity of the disease and the high risk of surgery seriously affect the overall outcome of the disease. Some studies have shown that the mortality rate in the early postoperative period after aortic coarctation is as high as 9%–30% [4]. Therefore, an in-depth study of the pathogenesis of aortic coarctation and exploration of early diagnostic methods is expected not only to control the development of aortic coarctation but also to further improve the existing clinical treatment outcomes.At present, the known causes of aortic dissection include congenital genetic variation, connective tissue lesions, infection, trauma, and other factors [5]. Several well-studied signaling pathways in AD development include TGF-β signaling pathway, angiotensin II signaling pathway, and focal adhesion, and actin cytoskeleton regulation [6–8]. There are also regulatory mechanisms regarding the contractile function of vascular smooth muscle, such as the ACTA2 gene encoding ɑ actin and the MYH11 gene encoding β myosin heavy chain, which are important components of actin and myosin, respectively, whereas the contraction of smooth muscle is produced under the premise of cross-linking of actin and myosin; therefore, the abnormal expression of ACTA2 and MYH11 genes can affect the contractile function of vascular smooth muscles [9, 10]. Extracellular matrix (ECM) is the main component that forms the morphology of the aortic vessel wall, but in the vascular wall tissue of patients with thoracic aortic dissection, this component has obvious abnormalities [11]. Collagen and elastin play an important role in maintaining the elastic properties of the aortic wall [12]. Although a large number of studies have shown that typical pathological changes of aortic dissection and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a direct role in the degradation of aortic extracellular matrix [13], the interaction mode of these factors and their upstream regulatory factors are still unclear. The aim of this study was to construct a regulatory network for aortic coarctation gene expression by screening key node genes and key factors (molecular markers) that may influence their occurrence, through bioinformatic analysis of aortic coarctation mRNA sequence data in the GEO database. Aortic coarctation was obtained and their functions were verified in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HAoSMCs). Exploring the mechanism of action of key factors will provide reliable molecular markers for early diagnosis of aortic coarctation.


## 2. Materials and Methods

### 2.1. Screening of mRNA Related to Aortic Dissection

Retrieval of mRNA expression data set related to aortic dissection in NCBI GEO database[14], download address is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE52093. The data contain gene expression profiling of dissected ascending aorta with that of control.


### 2.2. Differential mRNA Expression Related to Aortic Dissection

For the downloaded expression spectrum data in the original CEL format, the R software (version 3.3.2) package oligo [15] was used to correct the expression value background and normalize the expression spectrum data, including the conversion of the original data format, the supplement of missing values, the background correction (MAS), and the data standardization by quantiles. The gene expression matrix was divided into the case group and control group. The significance of p value of gene expression difference was calculated by the nonpaired t-test provided by lima [16], and the p value was corrected by BH. The adjusted p value < 0.05 and |log2 (foldchange)| > 1 was considered as the screening threshold for differential expression genes (DEGs).


### 2.3. GO and KEGG Enrichment Analysis

Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was performed by the BiNGO plugin of Cytoscape software v3.6.0 to understand the biological functions of DEGs [17]. Statistics were performed using hypergeometric tests with the Benjamini and Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction, and the significance level of GO terms was defined as FDR ≤ 0.01. DAVID 6.8 (2019-12-03) [18] the functional annotation program was used to perform Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis with the following settings: gene count 5, easy 0.05.


### 2.4. Interaction Network and Expression Pattern Analysis

Interaction of all the differential expression genes was analyzed using STRING database [19]. The obtained file of gene interactions was imported into Cytoscape software, for the visualization of gene interaction network. The Cytoscape plugin, ClusterONE [20, 21] was used for the subnetwork module analysis; genes in the significant enriched modules were further applied for functional enrichment analysis. The Cytoscape plugin, cytoHubba [22], was used to explore the hub genes from the gene interaction network, and the genes with degree value larger than 5 were considered as hub genes.


### 2.5. Cell

#### 2.5.1. Cell Culture

Human aortic smooth muscle cells lines (HAoSMCs) were purchased from PromoCell (Heidelberg, Germany). All cell lines were cultured in a smooth muscle cell growth medium (PromoCell) and maintained in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2 at 37°C.


#### 2.5.2. Cell Transfection

The SERPINE1 gene was overexpressed in human aortic smooth muscle cells using recombinant adenovirus. A specific primer (5′-ACCAAGAGCCTCTCCACGTC-3′, 5′-CCATGCGGGCTGAGACTATGACA-3′) for human SERPINE1 gene wa designed and constructed in the pHBAd-MCMV-GFP vector, which was co-transfected to 293T cells. A specific siRNA (5′-CAGGCCATATTGTGCTGCCTCA-3′) targeting human SERPINE1 gene was designed to construct pLKO.1 lentivirus vector, and 293T cells were co-transfected with psPAX2 and pMD2.G to package lentivirus particles. Cell transfections were performed with a Lipofectamine 2000 reagent (Invitrogen, America) according to the manufacturer’s protocols.


#### 2.5.3. Apoptosis Assessment of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell apoptosis was detected using an Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit (Biomiga, China) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. After 72 hours of transfection, human aortic smooth muscle cells were digested by trypsin without EDTA, then harvested and washed three times with PBS. Cells were resuspended in an Annexin V binding buffer, labeled with the Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) sequentially and incubated at room temperature for 5–10 min, protected from light. The flow cytometry system (BeamCyte 1026, BeamDiag, China) was performed at an excitation of 488 nm and an emission of 530 nm to detect the apoptotic cells. Caspase 3 is a key enzyme in the process of apoptosis and the activity was determined using the Caspase 3 Activity Assay Kit (Beyotime, China).


#### 2.5.4. Cell Proliferation Detection of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell proliferation was analyzed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (Beyotime, China). At 72 hours after transfection, the CCK-8 solution was added into the medium. One hour later, the absorbance at 450 nm was measured, which has a linear relationship with the number of cells.


### 2.6. Analysis

#### 2.6.1. qRT-PCR Analysis

Total RNA was isolated with the Trizol reagent (Invitrogen, America) and cDNA was synthesized with a SuperScript III Reverse Transcription kit (Invitrogen, America) following the manufacturer’s protocol. qRT-PCR reactions with a 20μL volume were prepared in triplicates by adding cDNA to the SYBR qPCR mix (Invitrogen, America) and run on an Applied biosystems (USA) detection system according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Data were analyzed with StepOne Software. The primer pairs used for qRT-PCR are provided in Table S1. Relative gene expression levels were quantified using the 2−ΔΔCt method [23]. ACTIN was used as the internal quantitative control.


#### 2.6.2. Western Blot Analysis

Total protein was extracted using the RIPA protein extraction reagent (Beyotime, China) and the protein concentration was determined using the bicinchoninic acid Protein Assay kit (Beyotime, China). 30 µg protein was separated by 10% SDS-PAGE and then transferred to PVDF membranes (Millipore, America). The membranes were blocked with 5% skim milk in TBS containing 0.1% Tween for 2 h at room temperature. The membranes were then incubated with the following primary antibodies: ACTIN (cat. no. 4970; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); SERPINE1 (cat. no. 11907; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); caspase 3 (cat. no. 14220; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); and Bcl-2 (cat. no. 3498; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.). Subsequently, the membranes were incubated with a HRP-linked ant-rabbit IgG secondary antibody (cat. no. 7074; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.) at room temperature for 60 min. Protein bands were visualized by the ChemiDoc MP Imaging System (Bio-Rad). ACTIN was used as the loading control.


## 2.1. Screening of mRNA Related to Aortic Dissection

Retrieval of mRNA expression data set related to aortic dissection in NCBI GEO database[14], download address is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE52093. The data contain gene expression profiling of dissected ascending aorta with that of control.


## 2.2. Differential mRNA Expression Related to Aortic Dissection

For the downloaded expression spectrum data in the original CEL format, the R software (version 3.3.2) package oligo [15] was used to correct the expression value background and normalize the expression spectrum data, including the conversion of the original data format, the supplement of missing values, the background correction (MAS), and the data standardization by quantiles. The gene expression matrix was divided into the case group and control group. The significance of p value of gene expression difference was calculated by the nonpaired t-test provided by lima [16], and the p value was corrected by BH. The adjusted p value < 0.05 and |log2 (foldchange)| > 1 was considered as the screening threshold for differential expression genes (DEGs).


## 2.3. GO and KEGG Enrichment Analysis

Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was performed by the BiNGO plugin of Cytoscape software v3.6.0 to understand the biological functions of DEGs [17]. Statistics were performed using hypergeometric tests with the Benjamini and Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction, and the significance level of GO terms was defined as FDR ≤ 0.01. DAVID 6.8 (2019-12-03) [18] the functional annotation program was used to perform Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis with the following settings: gene count 5, easy 0.05.


## 2.4. Interaction Network and Expression Pattern Analysis

Interaction of all the differential expression genes was analyzed using STRING database [19]. The obtained file of gene interactions was imported into Cytoscape software, for the visualization of gene interaction network. The Cytoscape plugin, ClusterONE [20, 21] was used for the subnetwork module analysis; genes in the significant enriched modules were further applied for functional enrichment analysis. The Cytoscape plugin, cytoHubba [22], was used to explore the hub genes from the gene interaction network, and the genes with degree value larger than 5 were considered as hub genes.


## 2.5. Cell

### 2.5.1. Cell Culture

Human aortic smooth muscle cells lines (HAoSMCs) were purchased from PromoCell (Heidelberg, Germany). All cell lines were cultured in a smooth muscle cell growth medium (PromoCell) and maintained in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2 at 37°C.


### 2.5.2. Cell Transfection

The SERPINE1 gene was overexpressed in human aortic smooth muscle cells using recombinant adenovirus. A specific primer (5′-ACCAAGAGCCTCTCCACGTC-3′, 5′-CCATGCGGGCTGAGACTATGACA-3′) for human SERPINE1 gene wa designed and constructed in the pHBAd-MCMV-GFP vector, which was co-transfected to 293T cells. A specific siRNA (5′-CAGGCCATATTGTGCTGCCTCA-3′) targeting human SERPINE1 gene was designed to construct pLKO.1 lentivirus vector, and 293T cells were co-transfected with psPAX2 and pMD2.G to package lentivirus particles. Cell transfections were performed with a Lipofectamine 2000 reagent (Invitrogen, America) according to the manufacturer’s protocols.


### 2.5.3. Apoptosis Assessment of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell apoptosis was detected using an Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit (Biomiga, China) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. After 72 hours of transfection, human aortic smooth muscle cells were digested by trypsin without EDTA, then harvested and washed three times with PBS. Cells were resuspended in an Annexin V binding buffer, labeled with the Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) sequentially and incubated at room temperature for 5–10 min, protected from light. The flow cytometry system (BeamCyte 1026, BeamDiag, China) was performed at an excitation of 488 nm and an emission of 530 nm to detect the apoptotic cells. Caspase 3 is a key enzyme in the process of apoptosis and the activity was determined using the Caspase 3 Activity Assay Kit (Beyotime, China).


### 2.5.4. Cell Proliferation Detection of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell proliferation was analyzed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (Beyotime, China). At 72 hours after transfection, the CCK-8 solution was added into the medium. One hour later, the absorbance at 450 nm was measured, which has a linear relationship with the number of cells.


## 2.5.1. Cell Culture

Human aortic smooth muscle cells lines (HAoSMCs) were purchased from PromoCell (Heidelberg, Germany). All cell lines were cultured in a smooth muscle cell growth medium (PromoCell) and maintained in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2 at 37°C.


## 2.5.2. Cell Transfection

The SERPINE1 gene was overexpressed in human aortic smooth muscle cells using recombinant adenovirus. A specific primer (5′-ACCAAGAGCCTCTCCACGTC-3′, 5′-CCATGCGGGCTGAGACTATGACA-3′) for human SERPINE1 gene wa designed and constructed in the pHBAd-MCMV-GFP vector, which was co-transfected to 293T cells. A specific siRNA (5′-CAGGCCATATTGTGCTGCCTCA-3′) targeting human SERPINE1 gene was designed to construct pLKO.1 lentivirus vector, and 293T cells were co-transfected with psPAX2 and pMD2.G to package lentivirus particles. Cell transfections were performed with a Lipofectamine 2000 reagent (Invitrogen, America) according to the manufacturer’s protocols.


## 2.5.3. Apoptosis Assessment of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell apoptosis was detected using an Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit (Biomiga, China) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. After 72 hours of transfection, human aortic smooth muscle cells were digested by trypsin without EDTA, then harvested and washed three times with PBS. Cells were resuspended in an Annexin V binding buffer, labeled with the Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) sequentially and incubated at room temperature for 5–10 min, protected from light. The flow cytometry system (BeamCyte 1026, BeamDiag, China) was performed at an excitation of 488 nm and an emission of 530 nm to detect the apoptotic cells. Caspase 3 is a key enzyme in the process of apoptosis and the activity was determined using the Caspase 3 Activity Assay Kit (Beyotime, China).


## 2.5.4. Cell Proliferation Detection of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Cell proliferation was analyzed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (Beyotime, China). At 72 hours after transfection, the CCK-8 solution was added into the medium. One hour later, the absorbance at 450 nm was measured, which has a linear relationship with the number of cells.


## 2.6. Analysis

### 2.6.1. qRT-PCR Analysis

Total RNA was isolated with the Trizol reagent (Invitrogen, America) and cDNA was synthesized with a SuperScript III Reverse Transcription kit (Invitrogen, America) following the manufacturer’s protocol. qRT-PCR reactions with a 20μL volume were prepared in triplicates by adding cDNA to the SYBR qPCR mix (Invitrogen, America) and run on an Applied biosystems (USA) detection system according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Data were analyzed with StepOne Software. The primer pairs used for qRT-PCR are provided in Table S1. Relative gene expression levels were quantified using the 2−ΔΔCt method [23]. ACTIN was used as the internal quantitative control.


### 2.6.2. Western Blot Analysis

Total protein was extracted using the RIPA protein extraction reagent (Beyotime, China) and the protein concentration was determined using the bicinchoninic acid Protein Assay kit (Beyotime, China). 30 µg protein was separated by 10% SDS-PAGE and then transferred to PVDF membranes (Millipore, America). The membranes were blocked with 5% skim milk in TBS containing 0.1% Tween for 2 h at room temperature. The membranes were then incubated with the following primary antibodies: ACTIN (cat. no. 4970; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); SERPINE1 (cat. no. 11907; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); caspase 3 (cat. no. 14220; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); and Bcl-2 (cat. no. 3498; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.). Subsequently, the membranes were incubated with a HRP-linked ant-rabbit IgG secondary antibody (cat. no. 7074; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.) at room temperature for 60 min. Protein bands were visualized by the ChemiDoc MP Imaging System (Bio-Rad). ACTIN was used as the loading control.


## 2.6.1. qRT-PCR Analysis

Total RNA was isolated with the Trizol reagent (Invitrogen, America) and cDNA was synthesized with a SuperScript III Reverse Transcription kit (Invitrogen, America) following the manufacturer’s protocol. qRT-PCR reactions with a 20μL volume were prepared in triplicates by adding cDNA to the SYBR qPCR mix (Invitrogen, America) and run on an Applied biosystems (USA) detection system according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Data were analyzed with StepOne Software. The primer pairs used for qRT-PCR are provided in Table S1. Relative gene expression levels were quantified using the 2−ΔΔCt method [23]. ACTIN was used as the internal quantitative control.


## 2.6.2. Western Blot Analysis

Total protein was extracted using the RIPA protein extraction reagent (Beyotime, China) and the protein concentration was determined using the bicinchoninic acid Protein Assay kit (Beyotime, China). 30 µg protein was separated by 10% SDS-PAGE and then transferred to PVDF membranes (Millipore, America). The membranes were blocked with 5% skim milk in TBS containing 0.1% Tween for 2 h at room temperature. The membranes were then incubated with the following primary antibodies: ACTIN (cat. no. 4970; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); SERPINE1 (cat. no. 11907; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); caspase 3 (cat. no. 14220; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.); and Bcl-2 (cat. no. 3498; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.). Subsequently, the membranes were incubated with a HRP-linked ant-rabbit IgG secondary antibody (cat. no. 7074; 1 : 1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.) at room temperature for 60 min. Protein bands were visualized by the ChemiDoc MP Imaging System (Bio-Rad). ACTIN was used as the loading control.


## 3. Results

### 3.1. Differential mRNA Expression Related to Aortic Dissection

To identified genes associated with aortic dissection, we applied the “lima” R package to screen DEGs between normal tissue samples and aortic dissection samples. A total of 111 upregulated and 223 downregulated genes were obtained (Figure1(a)). The results of the GO analysis showed that biological processes such as extracellular matrix organization, angiogenesis, and regulation of smooth muscle contraction were found to be significantly enriched among DEGs (Figure 1(b), Table S2). In the disease database, it was found that the differential genes were significantly enriched to hypertension, abdominal aortic aneurysm, connective tissue diseases, myocardial infarct, aortic aneurysm, vascular diseases, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases (Figure 1(c)). KEGG enrichment analysis showed that ECM-receptor interaction and vascular smooth muscle contraction were significantly enriched in DEGs (Figure 1(d)), suggesting that alterations of the ECM might be responsible for the malignant progress of aortic dissection.Figure 1
The expression and function enrichment for 334 differentially expressed genes. (a) Volcanic map of expressed genes. FC, fold-change; NA, normal tissues samples; AD, aortic dissection samples. The red dots represent genes that are significantly up-regulated in aortic dissection and the green dots represent genes that are significantly down-regulated. (b) GO database enrichment results. (c) GAD disease database enrichment results. (d) KEGG database enrichment results.
(a)(b)(c)(d)


### 3.2. Interaction Network and Expression Pattern Analysis

Of the 334 DEGs related to aortic dissection, there are 314 pairs of interaction among 126 genes basing STRING database. We divide these interactions into 20 submodules using ClusterONE (TableS3). 126 genes were sequenced according to the strength of interaction, and the core genes were screened. Finally, we found that submodule 2 (p=0.00000139215) was significantly related to the occurrence of aortic dissection. The degree value of SERPINE1 gene in submodule 2 is 5, and the interaction network diagram shows that the genes interacting with SERPINE1 gene include ACTN4, GAS6, TIMP1, SERPINA1, and PLAUR (Figure 2, Table 1).Figure 2
Interaction network diagram for the 15 genes in submodule 2 obtained by ClusterONE, a Cytoscape plugin, which was significantly related to the occurrence of aortic dissection.Table 1
The 6 significant genes related to the occurrence of aortic dissection. PLAUR, SERPINA1, SERPINE1, and TIMP1 were significantly upregulated in aortic dissection, and ACTN4 and GAS6 were significantly downregulated.
Gene symbolFold changeGene titleGO—Biological processACTN40.29Actinin alpha 4Actin filament bundle assembly;positive regulation of cell migration [24]; andregulation of apoptotic process [25]GAS60.47Growth arrest specific 6Activation of protein kinase B activity;extracellular matrix assembly; andnegative regulation of apoptotic process [26]PLAUR2.34Plasminogen activator, urokinase receptorChemotaxis [27];fibrinolysis; andnegative regulation of apoptotic process [28];SERPINA12.20Serpin family A member 1Acute-phase response;neutrophil degranulation; andnegative regulation of endopeptidase activity [29]SERPINE12.97Serpin family E member 1Angiogenesis [30];extracellular matrix organization; Fibrinolysis [31]; andregulation of smooth muscle cell migration [32]TIMP12.39TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1Extracellular matrix disassembly;negative regulation of apoptotic process; andnegative regulation of metallopeptidase activity [33]


### 3.3. Effects of SERPINE1 Gene on Apoptosis and Proliferation of Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

To explore the function of SERPINE1 in apoptosis and proliferation of HAoSMC, we transfectedin vitro cultured normal HAoSMC with a SERPINE1-overexpressing adenovirus vector (Ad-SERPINE1) and SERPINE1 silencing lentivirus vectors (si-SERPINE1). The positive rate of SERPINE1 was 22.2% in normal aortic smooth muscle cells, 95.3% in Ad-SERPINE1 and 9.8% in si-SERPINE1 (Figure 3(a)). Then, western blots and qRT-PCR were used to confirm efficacy of transfection. In HAoSMC transfected with Ad-SERPINE1, SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were 2.34- and 2.30-fold of the control group (Figure 3(b) and 3(c)). In HAoSMC transfected with si-SERPINE1, SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were 0.5- and 0.3-fold of the control group (Figures 3(b) and 3(c)). In addition, cell apoptosis rates of HAoSMC were detected using flow cytometry and it increased obviously to 23.32% in Ad-SERPINE1 (Figure 4(a)). Caspase 3 is a key signaling molecule in the process of apoptosis and Bcl-2 is an antiapoptotic and can inhibit apoptosis. Western blot showed that SERPINE1 overexpression resulted in an upregulated expression of caspase 3 (1.89-fold of control) and a downregulated expression of Bcl-2 (0.44-fold of control), which was consistent with the result of caspase 3 activity analysis (Figures 4(b) and 4(c)). The effect of SERPINE1 overexpression on cell proliferation was evaluated with CCK8 assay. The results showed that the proliferation ability of HAoSMC transfected with Ad-SERPINE1 was increased at 72 hours, while that of HAoSMC transfected with si-SERPINE1 decreased (Figure 5).Figure 3
The transfection efficiency of recombinant adenovirus and lentivirus vectors in HAoSMC. (a) The positive rate of SERPINE1 was 22.2% in normal aortic smooth muscle cells, 95.3% in Ad-SERPINE1, and 9.8% in si-SERPINE1. (b) and (c) SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot after transfection with SERPINE1 overexpression adenovirus vectors (Ad-SERPINE1) and SERPINE1 silencing lentivirus vectors (si-SERPINE1).
(a)(b)(c)Figure 4
Effect of SERPINE1 gene on apoptosis of aortic smooth muscle cells. (a) Apoptosis rates of human aortic smooth muscle cells detected by flow cytometry. (b) Effect of SERPINE1 on caspase-3 activity. (c) Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of caspase-3 and bcl-2 in aortic smooth muscle cells.
(a)(b)(c)Figure 5
Cell proliferation was measured by the CCK8 assay. Lower optical density at 450 nm (OD450) in CCK-8 proliferation assay was observed in the Ad-SERPINE1 group and higher optical density in si-SERPINE1 group versus control group. CCK-8 : Cell Counting Kit-8.


### 3.4. Effects of the SERPINE1 Overexpression on Gene Expression Interacted with It

In the above, we have screened 5 DEGs that predicted to have interacted with SERPINE1, including ACTN4, GAS6, TIMP1, SERPINA1, and PLAUR. The SERBP1 gene can bind to the 3′-most 134 nt of the SERPINE1 mRNA to regulate of mRNA stability. Therefore, mRNA expression levels of these six genes were also detected after HAoSMC transfection with SERPINE1 genes. In the Ad-SERPINE1 groups, the expression of SERBP1, TIMP1, PLAUR, and SERPINA1 was upregulated and that of ACTN4, GAS6 was downregulated. However, in the si-SERPINE1 group, the opposite results were observed (Figure6).Figure 6
Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was performed to detect the expression of SERBP1, TIMP1, PLAUR, SERPINA1, ACTN4, and GAS6 in aortic smooth muscle cells after transfection SERPINE1 gene.


## 3.1. Differential mRNA Expression Related to Aortic Dissection

To identified genes associated with aortic dissection, we applied the “lima” R package to screen DEGs between normal tissue samples and aortic dissection samples. A total of 111 upregulated and 223 downregulated genes were obtained (Figure1(a)). The results of the GO analysis showed that biological processes such as extracellular matrix organization, angiogenesis, and regulation of smooth muscle contraction were found to be significantly enriched among DEGs (Figure 1(b), Table S2). In the disease database, it was found that the differential genes were significantly enriched to hypertension, abdominal aortic aneurysm, connective tissue diseases, myocardial infarct, aortic aneurysm, vascular diseases, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases (Figure 1(c)). KEGG enrichment analysis showed that ECM-receptor interaction and vascular smooth muscle contraction were significantly enriched in DEGs (Figure 1(d)), suggesting that alterations of the ECM might be responsible for the malignant progress of aortic dissection.Figure 1
The expression and function enrichment for 334 differentially expressed genes. (a) Volcanic map of expressed genes. FC, fold-change; NA, normal tissues samples; AD, aortic dissection samples. The red dots represent genes that are significantly up-regulated in aortic dissection and the green dots represent genes that are significantly down-regulated. (b) GO database enrichment results. (c) GAD disease database enrichment results. (d) KEGG database enrichment results.
(a)(b)(c)(d)


## 3.2. Interaction Network and Expression Pattern Analysis

Of the 334 DEGs related to aortic dissection, there are 314 pairs of interaction among 126 genes basing STRING database. We divide these interactions into 20 submodules using ClusterONE (TableS3). 126 genes were sequenced according to the strength of interaction, and the core genes were screened. Finally, we found that submodule 2 (p=0.00000139215) was significantly related to the occurrence of aortic dissection. The degree value of SERPINE1 gene in submodule 2 is 5, and the interaction network diagram shows that the genes interacting with SERPINE1 gene include ACTN4, GAS6, TIMP1, SERPINA1, and PLAUR (Figure 2, Table 1).Figure 2
Interaction network diagram for the 15 genes in submodule 2 obtained by ClusterONE, a Cytoscape plugin, which was significantly related to the occurrence of aortic dissection.Table 1
The 6 significant genes related to the occurrence of aortic dissection. PLAUR, SERPINA1, SERPINE1, and TIMP1 were significantly upregulated in aortic dissection, and ACTN4 and GAS6 were significantly downregulated.
Gene symbolFold changeGene titleGO—Biological processACTN40.29Actinin alpha 4Actin filament bundle assembly;positive regulation of cell migration [24]; andregulation of apoptotic process [25]GAS60.47Growth arrest specific 6Activation of protein kinase B activity;extracellular matrix assembly; andnegative regulation of apoptotic process [26]PLAUR2.34Plasminogen activator, urokinase receptorChemotaxis [27];fibrinolysis; andnegative regulation of apoptotic process [28];SERPINA12.20Serpin family A member 1Acute-phase response;neutrophil degranulation; andnegative regulation of endopeptidase activity [29]SERPINE12.97Serpin family E member 1Angiogenesis [30];extracellular matrix organization; Fibrinolysis [31]; andregulation of smooth muscle cell migration [32]TIMP12.39TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1Extracellular matrix disassembly;negative regulation of apoptotic process; andnegative regulation of metallopeptidase activity [33]


## 3.3. Effects of SERPINE1 Gene on Apoptosis and Proliferation of Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

To explore the function of SERPINE1 in apoptosis and proliferation of HAoSMC, we transfectedin vitro cultured normal HAoSMC with a SERPINE1-overexpressing adenovirus vector (Ad-SERPINE1) and SERPINE1 silencing lentivirus vectors (si-SERPINE1). The positive rate of SERPINE1 was 22.2% in normal aortic smooth muscle cells, 95.3% in Ad-SERPINE1 and 9.8% in si-SERPINE1 (Figure 3(a)). Then, western blots and qRT-PCR were used to confirm efficacy of transfection. In HAoSMC transfected with Ad-SERPINE1, SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were 2.34- and 2.30-fold of the control group (Figure 3(b) and 3(c)). In HAoSMC transfected with si-SERPINE1, SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were 0.5- and 0.3-fold of the control group (Figures 3(b) and 3(c)). In addition, cell apoptosis rates of HAoSMC were detected using flow cytometry and it increased obviously to 23.32% in Ad-SERPINE1 (Figure 4(a)). Caspase 3 is a key signaling molecule in the process of apoptosis and Bcl-2 is an antiapoptotic and can inhibit apoptosis. Western blot showed that SERPINE1 overexpression resulted in an upregulated expression of caspase 3 (1.89-fold of control) and a downregulated expression of Bcl-2 (0.44-fold of control), which was consistent with the result of caspase 3 activity analysis (Figures 4(b) and 4(c)). The effect of SERPINE1 overexpression on cell proliferation was evaluated with CCK8 assay. The results showed that the proliferation ability of HAoSMC transfected with Ad-SERPINE1 was increased at 72 hours, while that of HAoSMC transfected with si-SERPINE1 decreased (Figure 5).Figure 3
The transfection efficiency of recombinant adenovirus and lentivirus vectors in HAoSMC. (a) The positive rate of SERPINE1 was 22.2% in normal aortic smooth muscle cells, 95.3% in Ad-SERPINE1, and 9.8% in si-SERPINE1. (b) and (c) SERPINE1 mRNA and protein expression were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot after transfection with SERPINE1 overexpression adenovirus vectors (Ad-SERPINE1) and SERPINE1 silencing lentivirus vectors (si-SERPINE1).
(a)(b)(c)Figure 4
Effect of SERPINE1 gene on apoptosis of aortic smooth muscle cells. (a) Apoptosis rates of human aortic smooth muscle cells detected by flow cytometry. (b) Effect of SERPINE1 on caspase-3 activity. (c) Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of caspase-3 and bcl-2 in aortic smooth muscle cells.
(a)(b)(c)Figure 5
Cell proliferation was measured by the CCK8 assay. Lower optical density at 450 nm (OD450) in CCK-8 proliferation assay was observed in the Ad-SERPINE1 group and higher optical density in si-SERPINE1 group versus control group. CCK-8 : Cell Counting Kit-8.


## 3.4. Effects of the SERPINE1 Overexpression on Gene Expression Interacted with It

In the above, we have screened 5 DEGs that predicted to have interacted with SERPINE1, including ACTN4, GAS6, TIMP1, SERPINA1, and PLAUR. The SERBP1 gene can bind to the 3′-most 134 nt of the SERPINE1 mRNA to regulate of mRNA stability. Therefore, mRNA expression levels of these six genes were also detected after HAoSMC transfection with SERPINE1 genes. In the Ad-SERPINE1 groups, the expression of SERBP1, TIMP1, PLAUR, and SERPINA1 was upregulated and that of ACTN4, GAS6 was downregulated. However, in the si-SERPINE1 group, the opposite results were observed (Figure6).Figure 6
Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was performed to detect the expression of SERBP1, TIMP1, PLAUR, SERPINA1, ACTN4, and GAS6 in aortic smooth muscle cells after transfection SERPINE1 gene.


## 4. Discussion

Studies have shown that AD may be a disease involving multiple systems and organs, with a high incidence of complications. When AD occurs, patients suffer from impaired renal function, decreased creatinine clearance rate, decreased pulmonary function, syncope, cognitive function, and other neurological symptoms [34, 35]. In addition, some AD tears involve the coronary arteries, causing changes in troponin and electrocardiogram, making early and rapid diagnosis difficult [36]. The initial assessment and diagnosis of AD by routine examination is not easy at present, the misdiagnosis rate is high, and routine laboratory tests have no specific significance for the diagnosis of aortic coarctation and can only be used to exclude other diagnostic possibilities [37]. Occasionally, the acute onset of aortic coarctation may be associated with stress-related leukocytosis or anemia due to severe bleeding and massive blood flow into the false lumen, with individual diffuse intravascular coagulation [38]. Serum aminotransferases are generally not elevated unless myocardial infarction occurs with involvement of the coronary artery by a clotted hematoma [39]. Serum amylase has been reported to be increased when plasma cavity hematoma is present, or when the superior mesenteric artery is involved and involves the pancreas [40, 41]. Hematuria has also been reported in the presence of renal involvement, and hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid is reported in the presence of stroke [42, 43]. Once the dissection ruptures, the patient may die of massive hemorrhage within a few hours. Therefore, it is extremely important to find an early and convenient diagnostic method that is suitable for AD patients clinically [44]. In recent years, markers of vascular smooth muscle cell injury have focused on smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, creatine kinase isoenzyme BB. However, these biomarkers do not have a wide range of high sensitivity and specificity. To screen for biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis of AD, we used a bioinformatics approach to analyze the expression profiles of dissected ascending aorta with control genes from the GEO database, which provides important information for screening biomarkers of ascending aorta.The molecular pathogenesis of aortic dissection is considered mainly with the structure and function of the ascending aorta vascular middle smooth muscle cells change, including smooth muscle cell proliferation, migration, collagen and elastic fiber ratio, leading to the loss of the ascending aorta artery elasticity, formed in the hypertension induced by aortic dissection. Vascular smooth muscle cells are the most important cells in the middle layer of ascending aorta. Smooth muscle cells are usually in a contractile state, that is, mature and differentiated smooth muscle cells with a contractile function. However, long-term exposure to external stimuli causes it to undergo phenotypic changes. The other form of smooth muscle is the proliferative type, which does not have the contraction function but has strong proliferation and migration activity. Kimura et al. found that several genes related with vascular smooth muscle contraction are significantly differentially expressed in dissected ascending aorta by microarray analysis [45]. Several studies have shown that the pathogenesis of aortic coarctation is related to the phenotypic transformation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Wei et al. (2017) found that downregulation of the talin-1 expression induced proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells in aortic coarctation [46]. Li et al. (2018) revealed that EZH2 can inhibit autophagy of vascular smooth muscle cells and affect the pathological process of aortic coarctation [47]. Iida et al. (2018) showed that the overexpression of PCSK9 in vascular smooth muscle cells may promote the pathological process of aortic coarctation [48]. Thus, our analysis of gene expression profiles revealed that differentially expressed genes were enriched in the vascular smooth muscle contractile pathway, which is correct and consistent with previous studies. MYH11 is a smooth muscle cell-specific contractile protein that causes phenotypic transformation of smooth muscle cells [49]. CNN1 is a contractile regulatory protein expressed by VSMC, mainly in contractile cells, and is an important marker of phenotypic transformation in VCMC cells [50].SERPINE1 is the key gene related to aortic dissection obtained through interaction network analysis of differentially expressed genes. It has been reported that SERPINE1 is highly expressed in tumor tissues of patients with various types of cancer and is involved in cancer progression. Furthermore, the SERPINE1 overexpression plays an important role in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to corona virus 2019-associated coagulation disorder, suggesting the therapeutic potential of targeting fibrinogen activator inhibitor-1 in corona virus 2019 [51]. Its biological roles in tumors include inducing angiogenesis, promoting cell invasion and migration, maintaining proliferation, and resisting apoptosis. Moreover, it has also been used as a potential biomarker for a variety of cancers in recent years [52–55]. Meanwhile, Kimura et al. found that the expression level of SERPINE1 in acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) patients was upregulated [45]. Our research results also showed that the expression level of SERPINE1 in aortic dissection was 2.97 times higher than that in normal tissue. It is speculated that there is a relationship between the expression of SERPINE1 gene and the occurrence of aortic dissection. In order to further clarify the role of this gene in aortic dissection, we examined the effects of SERPINE1 overexpression and expression inhibition on human aortic smooth muscle cells apoptosis and proliferation in vitro. The results showed that SERPINE1 could promote human aortic smooth muscle cells apoptosis and proliferation simultaneously.Moreover, 5 DEGs were predicted to have interacted with SERPINE1 by STRING database analysis, including ACTN4, GAS6, TIMP1, SERPINA1, and PLAUR. The qRT-PCR results showed that Gas6 and ACTN4 were negatively correlated with the SERPINE1 expression. Melaragno reported that Gas6 could activate the PI3K/Akt pathway by increasing the expression of phosphorylated Akt and inhibit the apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells [56]. Qiu illuminated that Gas6 was critical in VK2-mediated functions that attenuate CaCl- and β-GP-induced VSMC calcification by blocking apoptosis [57]. It is therefore hypothesized that the Gas6 gene may be a key factor in regulating apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells in aortic coarctation. TIMP1 is a tissue matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor that inhibits the biological activity of MMPs. The concentrations of MMP8, MMP9, TIMP1, and TIMP2 in patients with aortic coarctation have been reported to be higher than those in normal tissues, but MMP8 and MMP9 are much higher than TIMP1 and TIMP2, resulting in aortic coarctation disequilibrium. TIMPs/MMPs ratio, enhanced protein hydrolytic activity, accelerated extracellular matrix degradation, and aortic coarctation occur [58].In traditional Chinese medicine, the etiology of aortic dissection is a kind of disease caused by congenital insufficiency, acquired dystrophy, and internal invasion of exogenous pathogens, resulting in deficiency of yin and blood, which cannot nourish the heart and weakens the heart [59]. Generally, the methods of nourishing blood and nourishing qi, nourishing the heart and veins, and treating according to syndrome are used to deal with it. Chinese medicine treatment also includes acupuncture rehabilitation, traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, etc., and also symptomatic treatment according to individual physique. Conservative drug therapy reduces the patient’s blood pressure to the lowest value that can be tolerated by antihypertensive drugs [59]. In addition, the patient’s heart rate can be controlled as much as possible by oral medication to reduce the stress on the heart [60]. But conservative treatment also has risks. Once a patient’s aortic dissection ruptures, the patient can die at any time. From this point of view, aortic dissection can not be improved only by Chinese medicine treatment. Only complete closure of the dissection can be cured, so aortic dissection requires timely surgical treatment.In summary, through bioinformatics analysis of the sequence data of mRNA related to aortic dissection in GEO database, the gene expression regulatory network of aortic dissection was constructed. Through the screening of key node genes, the SERPINE1 gene in submodule 2 was significantly related to aortic dissection. The functional analysis in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HAoSMCs) showed that SERPINE1 may be involved in the pathophysiological process of aortic dissection by promoting apoptosis and proliferation. The comprehensive analysis confirmed that the SERPINE1 gene is a reliable molecular marker for early diagnosis of aortic coarctation, and based on the molecular mechanism, we speculate that possible new drugs targeting the SERPINE1 gene are possible in the future. But there is still a long way to go to develop drugs and treatments targeting the SERPINE1 gene. Before that, it is very necessary to find an effective prognostic method to reduce various risks during and even after surgery, which may become the future research direction for a period of time.



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*Source: 5433868-2022-07-05.xml*