The role of furin and matrix metalloproteinases on molecular markers of coronary artery disease

• Main Author: Lee, Lynn
• Other Authors: Sujoy Ghosh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69176
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the third leading cause of death in Singapore for the last 4 years. CVD accounted for almost a third (29.6%) of all deaths in 2015. Heart attacks usually occur due to eruption of atherosclerotic plaque. The plaque mainly consists of atheroma (macrophages), cholesterol crystals and calcification found on base of lesions. The CARDIoGRAM study, which combined data from several thousand genome-wide association studies, has compiled suspected genetic variants related to CVD. Further studies by Ghosh et al. using GWAS has highlighted several interconnected functional and topologically interacting molecules representing novel associations (e.g. semaphoring-regulated axonal guidance pathways) and identified genes (e.g. FYN, FURIN, etc.) likely to play critical roles in the maintenance and functioning of several of the CVD pathways. In the present study, we have utilized THP-1 human monocytes in an attempt to recapitulate possible biochemical relationships between Furin and MMP that might take place when furin is inhibited. This study also seeks to observe changes in gene expression when furin is inhibited. Based on previous study, the genes are specifically Inflammation related and Semaphorin related genes.