A set of genes activated in differentiating smooth muscle is also activated in smooth muscle from injured arteries or atherosclerotic lesions

We stimulated differentiation of purified rat neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in culture, then subtracted NCSC sequences from SMC sequences to make a cDNA library specific for differentiating smooth muscle cells. Sequence analysis of the library shows that a large subset of clones is strongly associated with smooth muscle biology, confirming the overall success of the differentiation and subtraction procedures. Of this subset of clones, more than half encode proteins that have previously been shown to be upregulated in atherosclerotic or injured vascular smooth muscle as compared to normal vascular smooth muscle. Thus, a set of genes activated in differentiating smooth muscle of the neural crest lineage is also activated in atherosclerotic or injured vascular smooth muscle.