Single-cell sequencing analysis confirms the association of ANRIL with the increased smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration gene signatures in pulmonary artery hypertension in silico

Purpose Smooth muscle cell (SMC) dysregulation is part of the pathological basis of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). We aimed to explore the heterogeneity of SMCs in PAH. Methods The profile GSE210248 was obtained from NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, containing the scRNA-seq data of pulmonary arteries (PA) from three patients with PAH and three healthy donors. After quality control, normalization, and dimension reduction, cell clustering analysis was performed. Differential expression analysis and functional enrichment analysis were carried out successively in smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The enrichment scores of cell cycle and cell migration gene sets in SMCs were calculated. Then, the Spearman correlation coefficients between antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) expression and two gene sets were computed. Results Eight cell clusters were identified in PA from samples. The proportion of SMCs was increased in PAH samples. SMCs were divided into five subclusters with diverse biological functions. Muscle contraction-related SMC1 was decreased, while extracellular matrix organization-related SMC2, immune and inflammatory response-related SMC4 and SMC5 were increased in PAH samples compared with healthy donors. The enrichment scores of cell cycle and cell migration gene sets in SMCs were higher in PAH samples than in donors. ANRIL was down-regulated significantly in PAH samples and was negatively related to the scores of two gene sets. Conclusion SMCs exhibited significant heterogeneity in PAH. The altered abilities of SMC proliferation and migration in PAH were associated with ANRIL expression.