Figure 4.

LEENE regulates pathways in ECs relevant to BP modulation. (A–D) WT and KO mice were infused with AngII for two weeks, and lung ECs were isolated from three mice per group for RNA-seq. (A,B) Top enriched biological pathways of upregulated (A) and downregulated (B) DEGs in lung ECs revealed by RNA-seq. (C) Heatmap showing the Z-scaled expression of select genes, including the upregulated DEGs involved in the immune and inflammatory pathways (indicated in red in A) and downregulated DEGs involved in flow response and atherosclerosis-related pathways (marked in green in B). (D) Downregulated DEGs involved in three select pathways. (E) qPCR analysis of indicated RNAs in lung ECs isolated from AngII-infused KO mice (for 2 weeks) and then treated with Ad-GFP/LEENE. (F,G) Aortic rings were isolated from AngII-infused WT mice and then treated with Ad-GFP/LEENE. Representative images are shown in (F), and qPCR analyses of indicated RNAs are shown in (G). n = three mice per group in (E,G). Scale bar = 1 mm. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. * p < 0.05 based on two-tailed Student’s t-test.