A Gene in Foam Cell Formation in Monocyte-Derived Macrophages Induced by ox-LDL with Suppression Subtractive Hybridization

Aim Identification of genes that differentially expressed during foam cell formation is important for understanding the molecular basis of atherosclerosis. Methods We used suppression subtractive hybridization(SSH) to isolate differentially expressed cDNA species in foam cells induced by incubation of U937 cells in the presence of oxidized LDL. This led to identification of more than twenty differential expressed sequence tags(EST) after further cloned and sequenced and homology searched in Genbank with software advanced BLAST 2.0. Results EST FRG4(a 273 bp cDNA) and FRG14(a 346 bp cDNA) had very low homology with sequence in Genbank, which may be new genes. Moreover, the results from RT PCR confirmed that FRG4 and FRG14 are indeed genes induced by ox LDL. The sequences have been assigned the database accession numbers in Genbank as below: BI50286, BI502587. Also we have found other genes such as human ubiquitin proteasome pathway and human retinoblastoma binding protein 4 differentially expressed in foam cells. Conclusions Suppression subtractive hybridization(SSH) is a kind of high efficient method to clone differentially displayed genes in tester and driver. We have found genes or ESTs may be related genes of atherosclerosis.