<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>Although the molecular signals underlying cardiac hypertrophy have been the
subject of intense investigation, the extent of common and distinct gene regulation
between different forms of cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. We hypothesized
that a general and comparative analysis of hypertrophic gene expression, using
microarray technology in multiple models of cardiac hypertrophy, including aortic
banding, myocardial infarction, an arteriovenous shunt and pharmacologically
induced hypertrophy, would uncover networks of conserved hypertrophy-specific
genes and identify novel genes involved in hypertrophic signalling. From gene
expression analyses (8740 probe sets, <italic>n</italic> = 46) of rat ventricular RNA, we identified a
core set of 139 genes with consistent differential expression in all hypertrophy models
as compared to their controls, including 78 genes not previously associated with
hypertrophy and 61 genes whose altered expression had previously been reported.
We identified a single common gene program underlying hypertrophic remodelling,
regardless of how the hypertrophy was induced. These genes constitute the molecular
basis for the existence of one main form of cardiac hypertrophy and may be useful
for prediction of a common therapeutic approach. Supplementary material for this
article can be found at: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1531-6912/suppmat</p>
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Comp Funct Genomics. 2004 Aug-Oct; 5(6-7):459-470