Aortic valve-specific genes dysregulated in calcific aortic valve stenosis as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets

Calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS) is the most frequent heart valve disease. Elucidating specific gene expression patterns in the aortic valve could provide new insights for understanding disease pathophysiology. We used local RNA sequencing data from 500 explanted human aortic valves to identify aortic valve-specific genes and compared their expression according to disease status and CAVS severity. We identified 100 specific protein-coding genes in the aortic valve compared to 45 other tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. Among them, 38 were differentially expressed in CAVS. Ten had a gradient of expression between severity levels and were central in a protein-protein interaction network, most of which were involved in extracellular matrix regulation or inflammation. Among the aortic valve-specific genes, four of the corresponding proteins had a significantly different plasma level in individuals with CAVS. These findings represent a robust foundation for the development of specific biomarkers and therapies for CAVS.