RNA-Seq identifies novel myocardial gene expression signatures of heart failure

• RNA-Seq was applied to six individuals to identify gene signatures for heart failure.
• We accurately classified heart failure status of 313 individuals.
• RNA-Seq makes it possible to classify disease status for complex diseases.

Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome and has become the most common reason for adult hospitalization in developed countries. Two subtypes of heart failure, ischemic heart disease (ISCH) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), have been studied using microarray platforms. However, microarray has limited resolution. Here we applied RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify gene signatures for heart failure from six individuals, including three controls, one ISCH and two DCM patients. Using genes identified from this small RNA-Seq dataset, we were able to accurately classify heart failure status in a much larger set of 313 individuals. The identified genes significantly overlapped with genes identified via genome-wide association studies for cardiometabolic traits and the promoters of those genes were enriched for binding sites for transcriptions factors. Our results indicate that it is possible to use RNA-Seq to classify disease status for complex diseases such as heart failure using an extremely small training dataset.