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Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 43, 2180-2187, December 2002
Copyright © 2002 by Lipid Research, Inc.
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* Atherosclerosis Research Unit, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 383 Preston Research Building, 2220 Pierce Avenue, Nashville, TN 37232-6300
Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 383 Preston Research Building, 2220 Pierce Avenue, Nashville, TN 37232-6300
Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 383 Preston Research Building, 2220 Pierce Avenue, Nashville, TN 37232-6300
Published, JLR Papers in Press, September 1, 2002. DOI 10.1194/jlr.D200020-JLR200
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: yan.ru.su{at}vanderbilt.edu, macrae.linton{at}vanderbilt.edu, and sergio.fazio{at}vanderbilt.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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This method provides a rapid, highly sensitive, specific, and reproducible quantification of ABC mRNA, and can be performed with nanograms of total RNA sample, thus making it a superior method for studying the regulation of ABC transporters in cholesterol efflux and its role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in murine models.
Abbreviations: ABC, ATP-binding cassette; CT, threshold cycle; RT-PCR, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction
Supplementary key words quantification of mRNA TaqManTM cholesterol transport macrophage foam cells
| INTRODUCTION |
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It has been shown that excess accumulation of cholesterol in macrophages can lead to foam cell formation and contribute to the development of atherosclerotic lesions. To elucidate the pathological pathways involved in cholesterol and lipid efflux in macrophages, it is important to quantify the expression of ABC transporters involved in this process. Several methods can be used for quantitative measurement of the mRNA level of a specific gene, including Northern blotting analysis, in situ hybridization, cDNA arrays, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). However, quantitative RT-PCR offers a number of advantages over the other approaches, especially when dealing with small samples. The recent development of fluorescence-based 5' nuclease assay (TaqManTM technology) represents a significant advance in mRNA quantification (17). It provides a highly sensitive, specific, reproducible, and accurate quantification of mRNA levels. Here we report the development of a real time RT-PCR method for the measurement of mRNA quantity of ABCA1, ABCG1, and ABCA2 in murine tissues and peritoneal macrophages. It is simple, accurate, and will have broad applications in future studies of the regulation of cholesterol efflux and the role of ABC transporters in the development of atherosclerosis.
| MATERIALs AND METHODS |
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Design and synthesis of TaqManTM probes and oligonucleotide primers
The primers and probes (Table 1) were designed using Primer Express 1.5 Software (ABI) based on the sequence entries in the GenBank (GenBank accession numbers: X75926 for Mus musculus ABCA1, AF323659 for Mus musculus ABCG1, X75927 for Mus musculus ABCA2). The primers were designed to be located in two adjacent exons to avoid the amplification of potentially contaminating genomic DNA in the total RNA sample (Fig. 1)
. The information for intron/exon boundaries of mouse ABCA1, ABCG1, and ABCA2 was obtained based on alignment of mouse cDNA sequence against the human genomic sequence, and the genomic structure of the human sequence (1719). The primers and TaqManTM probe for 18S RNA was obtained from ABI. The probes for ABCA1, ABCA2, and ABCG1 were labeled with a reporter dye (FAM) on the 5' end and quencher dye (TAMRA) on the 3' end. The probe for 18S RNA was labeled with a reporter dye (VICTM) on the 5' end and TAMRA on the 3' end. The primers were synthesized by Invitrogen and probes were made by ABI.
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Relative quantification of ABCA1, ABCA2, and ABCG1
The relative quantities of ABCA1, ABCG1, and ABCA2 message from all tissue samples used in the real time RT-PCR were normalized with 18S ribosomal RNA to compensate for variations in input RNA amounts. The data were analyzed using both relative standard curve method and comparative threshold cycle (CT) method. (See details on ABI User Bulletin #2). In the relative standard curve method, serial dilutions of known amounts of total RNA sample isolated from mouse peritoneal macrophages were used to construct the standard curve for each of the ABC transporters as well as for 18S RNA. A linear amplification was obtained over a wide range of input total RNA (3 logs). For each unknown sample, the relative amount is calculated using linear regression analysis from their respective standard curves (Fig. 2)
. A relative ABC expression value was then obtained by dividing the value for the gene of interest (ABC) by the value for the 18S RNA. In the comparative CT method, standard curves were eliminated. The relative quantification of ABC gene expression is calculated from the threshold cycle (CT) values for each sample. The threshold cycle is the cycle at which a statistically significant increase in
Rn is first detected. Therefore, samples with higher initial template concentrations reach the threshold value at lower cycle numbers during PCR than samples containing lower initial template concentrations. The
Rn is the intensity of reporter dye emission of each reaction containing all components including the template (Rn+), minus the fluorescent intensity of an unreacted sample (Rn-). The value for Rn- may be obtained from the early cycles of a real time run or from a reaction not containing template. The relative expression value of each ABC gene was obtained by evaluating the CT values for the unknown samples using the equation 2-
CT. Briefly,
CT for the calibrator and samples in each ABC gene expression assay were obtained by subtracting the VIC CT value of 18S RNA from the FAM CT value of the ABC gene. 
CT was calculated by subtracting the average
CT(calibrator) values from the
CT (sample). The relative quantification was then calculated by 2-Average 
CT. The mRNA quantity for the calibrator is expressed as 1x sample and all other quantities are expressed as a number of fold differences relative to the calibrator.
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| RESULTS |
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Validation of the comparative CT method
For the comparative CT method to be valid, the efficiency of the target amplification and the efficiency of the reference (endogenous control) amplification must be approximately equal. One sensitive method for assessing this is to look at the relationship of
CT value with respect to template dilution. If two amplicons have approximately equal amplification efficiency, the plot of log input amount versus
CT has a slope of approximately zero. Validation experiments for ABCA1, ABCG1, and ABCA2 were performed to evaluate the amplification efficiency for target and reference. A relative efficiency plot of the log of total RNA (ng) verses
CT of ABCA1, ABCA2, and ABCG1 was plotted and the absolute value of the slope was 0.038 for ABCA1, 0.087 for ABCG1, and 0.056 for ABCA2. As described in ABI user's bulletin #2, an absolute slope value <0.1 is considered ideal.
Intra- and interassay precision
The intra-assay (within-run) precision test was determined by calculating mean, SD, and coefficient of variation (CV) of the CT value. Six replicates of total RNA sample from macrophages (12 ng) were measured for ABCA1, ABCA2, ABCG1, and 18S RNA. The mean of
CT(ABCA1) was 15.96 ± 0.059 (SD) with CV of 0.37%; the mean of
CT(ABCG1) was 12.37 ± 0.103 (SD) with CV of 0.83%; and the mean of
CT(ABCA2) was 17.40 ± 0.095 (SD) with CV of 0.55%. The inter-assay (between run) precision test was performed on each of the ABC genes on four separate days, using four dilutions of total RNA (60 ng, 30 ng, 12 ng, 6 ng). The CV for ABCA1 (n = 16) was <4%, for ABCG1 (n = 16) was <6%, and for ABCA2 (n = 16) was <5%.
Tissue expression levels of ABC transporter
High expression levels of ABCA1 and ABCG1 were observed in peritoneal macrophages (Fig. 4A, B)
and the mRNA levels were further induced in macrophages loaded with acLDL. ABCA2 is primarily expressed in the brain, with low expression level in the peritoneal macrophages. AcLDL loading had no significant effect on ABCA2 expression in macrophages (Fig. 4C).
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| DISCUSSION |
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Real time quantification of mRNA can be either absolute or relative. Absolute quantification is used to determine the copy numbers of a specific RNA per cell or unit mass of tissue. It usually requires additional steps to construct a standard curve with in vitro transcribed cRNA or single-stranded sense-strand oligodeoxynucleotides (21, 24). Relative quantification determines the difference in expression level of a target gene among different samples, and is adequate for the majority of gene expression studies. The method we described here is based on relative quantification, in which the quantity of each ABC transporter mRNA is expressed relative to a calibrator sample. Therefore, the calibrator becomes the x1 sample, and all other experimental sample quantities are expressed as n-fold difference relative to the calibrator. The data was analyzed by both Standard Curve method and Comparative CT method (See ABI user bulletin #2 for detailed instruction). Similar results were obtained using both methods.
To validate the currently developed real time RT-PCR method, we have performed independent semi-quantitative RT-PCR for each of the ABC transporters using the same forward primer and different reverse primer further downstream of the cDNA sequence. The PCR product for ABCA1 was 512 bp (exons 48), for ABCG1 was 681 bp (exons 1014), and for ABCA2 was 588 bp (exons 48). For endogenous control, a 488 bp 18S RNA was amplified using the same amount of total RNA as used for ABC transporters. The relative mRNA expression level was quantitated by densitometry. We used the same total RNA samples that were used to generate the real time RT-PCR data and found similar expression patterns using the two methods (data not show).
A reliable quantitative RT-PCR method requires correction for experimental variations, such as the amount of starting material used in individual reactions. To normalize the RT-PCR reaction for the amount of RNA input or the efficiency of reverse transcription, a housekeeping gene is usually used as internal control. An ideal housekeeping gene should be expressed at a constant level among different tissues of an organism at all stages of development, and its expression should not be affected by experimental treatment. The selection of controls for quantitative RT-PCR has been reviewed in detail elsewhere (21, 25). We have compared the use of GAPDH versus 18S RNA as an internal control for ABC mRNA quantification, and found that GAPDH is more variable, especially in samples treated with acLDL (data not shown). 18S RNA, on the other hand, is more consistent.
The occurrence of alternatively spliced transcripts of ABCA1 has been reported in the literature (26, 27). One alternatively spliced transcript, which was found in human skin fibroblasts, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and HepG2 cell lines, completely skips exon 4 leading to a premature stop and a predicted translation product of 74 amino acids presumably lacking function. More splicing variations were observed by 5' RACE PCR in HepG2 cells, with truncated version of exon 2 and lacking of exon 3 (1). The forward primer for the real time RT-PCR amplification of ABCA1 was sitting on exon 4, which will eliminate the amplification of the 74 amino acid truncated non-functional protein. The human ABCG1 gene structure has been characterized extensively (28). The gene consists of 23 exons spanning 98 kilobase pairs (kb). Alternatively, spliced transcripts were reported in regions upstream of exon 10. Human ABCA2 gene consists of 48 exons spanning 7.3 kb; no alternative spliced transcript has been reported. Because ABC transporters are larger membrane proteins, it is possible that more alternatively spliced transcripts may exist. It is important to keep in mind the location of the primer set used in this method when quantifying ABC mRNAs in tissues or cell lines other than the tissues reported in this paper.
The tissue expression patterns of human ABCA1 and ABCG1 and ABCA2 have been reported using Northern blot analysis (1, 15, 29). ABCA1 is ubiquitously expressed. ABCG1, also a cholesterol-responsive gene, is highly expressed in human macrophages (14, 15). The highest expression of ABCA2 mRNA was found in human brain and was induced in human macrophages loaded with enzymatically modified LDL (18, 29). We observed similar expression patterns of all three ABC transporters in murine tissues. Interestingly, the ABCA2 expression in murine macrophages was relatively low, and no significant induction was found after acLDL loading. Human ABCA1 mRNA tissue distribution patterns have recently been reported using real time quantitative RT-PCR (30). Our results show that the tissue expression pattern of ABCA1 mRNA is the same in mice as has been previously reported in humans. Furthermore, because discordance between mRNA and protein expression levels has been observed in some tissues (31), studies of the regulation of ABC transporters should include measurements of protein expression levels as well.
The ABC transporters are critically involved in cellular cholesterol homeostasis and multiple drug resistance. This report describes a simple, reliable, and accurate mRNA quantification method that will provide a powerful tool for further investigation of the role of ABC transporters in regulating cholesterol efflux and their involvement in the development of atherosclerosis.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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Manuscript received April 21, 2002 and in revised form July 22, 2002. and in re-revised form August 21, 2002.
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