Study of the expression of genes associated with post-translational changes in histones in the internal thoracic artery and the saphenous vein grafts used in coronary artery bypass grafting procedure

Abstract Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world. The most advanced forms of CAD are usually treated by means of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The selection of the appropriate vessels as aortocoronary conduits is of paramount importance. The internal thoracic artery (ITA) or the great saphenous vein (SV) are often harvested. Furthermore, epigenetic processes have been recently associated with atherosclerosis, hypertension, and heart failure, and post-translational histone processes may play a key role in understanding the genetic predisposition of vessels to vascular diseases. In the experiment performed, the transcript levels of JHDM1D, PHF8, and HDAC 1-3 in SV and ITA used for CABG procedures with RT-qPCR were examined. Total RNA was isolated by the method of Chomczyński and Sachi. RNA samples were reverse transcribed into cDNA using a commercial kit. The determination of the level of the transcripts of the mentioned genes was performed using the Light Cycler® 96 Real-Time PCR kit. Our analyzes confirmed that the studied genes related to post-translational modifications of histones are expressed in SV and ITA. In the saphenous vein, the expression of each of the individual genes was higher. The most considerable difference in transcript levels was recorded for HDAC1 and the smallest difference in expression for HDAC2. Our research suggests that more processes related to histone demethylation and acetylation occur in the saphenous vein, which may affect the selection of a vessel for CABG, but this research requires more research and additional analysis. Running title: Histone regulating gene expression in common coronary artery bypass graft vessels