ABSTRACT
Objective:To sieve molecular biomarkers associated with heart failure derived from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).Methods:The comparative gene microarray analysis using individual left ventricular myocardial samples from 5 patients with heart failure resulting from ARVC undergoing transplantation and 5 matched samples from normal adult heart were performed.The accuracy rate of the differentially expressed genes obtained by gene microarray was further verified by quantitative real time RT-PCR.Results:83 genes (from a total of 35000) that were differentially expressed in diseased hearts versus normal hearts were identified.Among them thirty-seven genes were up-regulated and forty-eight genes were down-regulated in ARVC hearts compared with the normal hearts.Changes of gene expressions were most prominently observed in those belonging to the "metabolism" category.Eighty percent of the selected 30 differentially expressed genes from microarray analysis were confirmed by quantitative real time RT-PCR.The highly expressed level of atrial natriuratic peptide (ANP) in ARVC hearts that was confirmed by quantitative real time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry was reported.Conclusion:For the first time to our knowledge,the altered expressed genes in ARVC hearts compared with the matched normal hearts were identified.The results are the base to further study the molecular mechanism and identify diseased-specific molecular biomarkers in heart failure derived from ARVC.