摘要：SummaryWhether arterial-venous differences of primary endothelial cells commonly used for vascular research are preservedin vitroremains under debate. To address this issue, a meta-analysis of Affymetrix transcriptomic data sets from human umbilical artery (HUAECs) and vein (HUVEC) endothelial cells was performed. The meta-analysis showed 2,742 transcripts differentially expressed (false discovery rate <0.05), of which 78% were downregulated in HUVECs. Comparisons with RNA-seq data sets showed high levels of agreement and correlation (p < 0.0001), identifying 84 arterial-venous identity markers. Functional analysis revealed enrichment of key vascular processes in HUAECs/HUVECs, including nitric oxide- (NO) and hypoxia-related genes, as well as differences in miRNA- and ncRNA-mRNA interaction profiles. A proof of concept of these findings in primary cells exposed to hypoxiain vitroandin vivoconfirmed the arterial-venous differences in NO-related genes and miRNAs. Altogether, these data defined a cross-platform arterial-venous transcript profile for cultured HUAEC-HUVEC and support a preserved identity involving key vascular pathways post-transcriptionally regulatedin vitro.Graphical abstractDisplay OmittedHighlights•Transcriptional differences among HUAEC and HUVEC are preserved in culture•These differences occur even after correcting for experimental conditions•The heterogenous regulation affects NO- and hypoxia-related genes•Cell-specific ncRNA/mRNA interactions are foundCell biology; Systems biology
