Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a poorly understood vascular disease that can lead to hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction and even death. In 2013 we initiated the DEFINE study (<a href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/">ClinicalTrials.gov</a> Identifier: <a href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01967511?cond=NCT01967511&#x26;rank=1">NCT01967511</a>), which has now recruited > 440 subjects and which aims to unravel the pathobiological mechanisms of this disease. Here, by integrating DNA genotype and RNA sequence data from primary fibroblasts of 83 FMD patients and 71 matched healthy controls from the DEFINE study, and its precursor the CAUSE study, we inferred 18 gene regulatory co-expression networks, four of which were found to act together as an FMD-associated super network in the arterial wall. Molecular studies indicated that this super network, termed SN-A and with the top key driver gene UBR4, governs multiple aspects of vascular cell physiology and functionality, including collagen/matrix production. The effects of UBR4 knockdown were also investigated in commercially available aortic smooth muscle and fibroblast cell lines by RNA sequencing, and these results are included in these datasets.Note, that of the 154 subjects in this analysis, 62 did not provide consent to have their genomic data made publicly available. Therefore the human subject data available here is from the 92 study participants who provided written informed consent to share their deidentified genomic data publicly.

Integrative Gene Regulatory Network Analysis Discloses Key Driver Genes of Fibromuscular Dysplasia

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