Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40446189›Full record

SynthesisPloS one2025

The transcriptional landscape of atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Sergio Alejandro Gómez-Ochoa, Malte Möhn, Michelle Victoria Malz, Roger Ottenheijm, Jan D Lanzer, Felix Wiedmann, Manuel Kraft, Taulant Muka, Constanze Schmidt, Marc Freichel and 1 more

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Circulating miR-10b-5p as a candidate biomarker of atrial fibrillation recurrence after catheter ablation: a two-phase translational study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Sergio Alejandro Gómez-OchoaDepartment of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1396-5042
Malte MöhnDepartment of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Michelle Victoria MalzInstitute of Pharmacology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Roger OttenheijmInstitute of Pharmacology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Jan D LanzerInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Heidelberg University Faculty of Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Felix WiedmannDepartment of Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Manuel KraftDepartment of Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6764-2970
Taulant MukaEpistudia, Bern, Switzerland.
Constanze SchmidtDepartment of Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5897-237X
Marc FreichelInstitute of Pharmacology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Rebecca T LevinsonDepartment of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2775-7543

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDespite advances in understanding atrial fibrillation (AF) pathophysiology, there is limited agreement on the key genes driving its pathophysiology. To understand the genome-wide transcriptomic landscape, we performed a meta-analysis from studies reporting gene expression patterns in atrial heart tissue from patients with AF and controls in sinus rhythm (SR).

methodsBibliographic databases and data repositories were systematically searched for studies reporting gene expression patterns in atrial heart auricle tissue from patients with AF and controls in sinus rhythm. We calculated the pooled differences in individual gene expression from fourteen studies comprising 534 samples (353 AF and 181 SR) to create a consensus signature (CS), from which we identified differentially regulated pathways, estimated transcription factor activity, and evaluated its performance in classifying validation samples as AF or SR.

resultsDespite heterogeneity in the top differentially expressed genes across studies, the AF-CS in both chambers were robust, showing a better performance in classifying AF status than individual study signatures. Functional analysis revealed commonality in the dysregulated cellular processes between chambers, including extracellular matrix remodeling (highlighting epithelial mesenchymal transition, actin filament organization, and actin binding hallmark pathways), cardiac conduction (including cardiac muscle cell action potential, gated channel activity, and cation channel activity pathways), metabolic derangements (highlighting oxidative phosphorylation and asparagine n linked glycosylation), and innate immune system activity (mainly neutrophil degranulation, and TNFα signaling pathways). Finally, the AF-CS showed a good performance differentiating AF from controls in three validation datasets (two from peripheral blood and one from left ventricle samples).

conclusionsDespite variability in individual studies, this meta-analysis elucidated conserved molecular pathways involved in AF pathophysiology across its phenotypes and the potential of a transcriptomic signature in identifying AF from peripheral blood samples. Our work highlights the value of integrating published transcriptomics data in AF and the need for better data deposition practices.

Indexed as

Atrial FibrillationTranscriptomeGene Expression ProfilingHeart AtriaHumans

Identifiers

PMID40446189
PMCPMC12124854

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.