A Validated Gene Signature from Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Sickle Cell Disease

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious complication of sickle cell disease (SCD) associated with increased mortality. Gene expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) have been studied in pulmonary arterial hypertension and in SCD. We hypothesized that a PBMC-derived gene signature in SCD patients may be utilized as a PH biomarker. Twenty-seven patients with homozygous SCD underwent transthoracic echocardiography and PBMC isolation. PH was defined as estimated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP)>30 mmHg with a peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV)>2.5m/s. Genome-wide gene expression profiles were correlated against PH severity using RVSP and TRV as surrogates, which yielded 631 potentially dysregulated transcripts.

27

Desai AA, Zhou T, Ahmad H, Zhang W, Mu W, Trevino S, Wade MS, Raghavachari N, Kato GJ, Peters-Lawrence MH, Thiruvoipati T, Turner K, Artz N, Huang Y, Patel AR, Yuan JX, Gordeuk VR, Lang RM, Garcia JG, Machado RF