Aortic valve disease (AVD) is a cardiovascular disorder highly prevalent in the elderly population. Aortic valve leaflets suffer hardening due to extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and subsequent c Show more
Aortic valve disease (AVD) is a cardiovascular disorder highly prevalent in the elderly population. Aortic valve leaflets suffer hardening due to extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and subsequent calcification, leading to impaired blood flow and aortic valve stenosis. Valve interstitial cells (VICs) are fibroblast-like cells that can undergo myofibroblast activation and osteogenic transformation, contributing to disease progression. We performed a bioinformatic re-analysis of a publicly available scRNA-seq dataset to identify pathogenic VIC subpopulations and characterize cell-cell communication networks relevant to early AVD. Re-analysis of scRNA-seq data from aortic valves of These findings suggests the presence of a disease-associated VIC Spp1 Show less