Bioinformatics-based exploration of potential differential immune genes and immune infiltration signatures in bronchial asthma
Objective To identify immunologically critical genes and immune cells that are differentially expressed dur-ing the development of asthma and to explore the correlation between them.Methods The asthma-related datasets and immune-related genes were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database(GEO)and Import database,respectively,and analyzed using R software to obtain differentially expressed immune-related genes(DE-IRGs)in GSE76262.The interactions between DE-IRGs were clarified in the STRING database.Key DE-IRGs were screened using the CytoHubba plugin in Cytoscape software and validated in GSE137268.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were used to assess the potential of critical DE-IRGs as biomarkers.The single-sample gene set enrich-ment analysis(ssGSEA)algorithm was used to examine the differential expression of 28 immune cells in asthmatic and healthy individuals.Spearman correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the correlation between key immune genes and immune cells.Results Seventeen DE-IRGs were identified in GSE76262,and CCL22,CCR7,IL1R2,IL18R1,TNFAIP3,and VEGFA were identified as critical DE-IRGs in induced sputum from asthmatics with high diagnostic value,as screened by the PPI network and validated in GSE137268.In addition,the results of ssGSEA suggested a sig-nificant immune imbalance in asthmatics,with 11 types of immune cells significantly infiltrated in the induced sputum of asthmatics compared to healthy individuals.Meanwhile,CCL22,CCR7,IL1R2,IL18R1,VEGFA,and TNFAIP3 were positively correlated with infiltrated immune cells.Conclusion CCL22,CCR7,IL1R2,IL18R1,VEGFA,and TNFAIP3 serve as potential biomarkers of asthma and may modulate infiltration of immune cells in its pathogenesis.
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