Blood-brain barrier genomics and proteomics
Genomic/transcriptomic and proteomic approaches can be used to extract global information about a system of interest. In particular, identification of BBB-specific gene expression can potentially identify molecular origins of phenotype and new targets for drug delivery. The brain microvasculature comprises only 10-3 parts of the total brain volume, so care needs to be taken to ensure that enough high quality messenger RNA is isolated. We have recently used laser-capture microdissection to compare brain microvessels from human and mouse brain specimens.
Representative Publications
- Gastfriend BD, Foreman KL, Katt ME et al. (2021). Integrative analysis of the human brain mural cell transcriptome. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 41:3052-68.
- Song HW, Foreman KL, Gastfriend BD et al. (2020). Transcriptomic comparison of human and mouse brain microvessels. Sci Rep 10:12358.
- Calabria AR, Shusta EV (2008). A genomic comparison of in vivo and in vitro brain microvascular endothelial cells. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 28:135-48.
- Shusta EV et al. (2002). Vascular proteomics and subtractive antibody expression cloning. Mol Cell Proteomics 1:75-82.