Bioinformatics analysis identifies potential ferroptosis key genes in the pathogenesis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

作者：Ming Tian, Jin Zhi, Fan Pan, Yong Chen, Ai Zhong Wang, Hui Ying Jia, Rong Huang, Wen Zhong · 发表于：Frontiers in Endocrinology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fendo.2023.1048856 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis、Clusterin in disease pathology、GDF15 and Related Biomarkers

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a serious complication in Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients and the underlying mechanism is yet unclear. Ferroptosis has been recently intensively researched as a key process in the pathogenesis of diabetes but there yet has been no related bioinformatics-based studies in the context of DPN. Methods: We used data mining and data analysis techniques to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and immune cell content in patients with DPN, DM patients and healthy participants (dataset GSE95849). These DEGs were then intersected with the ferroptosis dataset (FerrDb) to obtain ferroptosis DEGs and the associated key molecules and miRNAs interactions were predicted. Results: A total of 33 ferroptosis DEGs were obtained. Functional pathway enrichment analysis revealed 127 significantly related biological processes, 10 cellular components, 3 molecular functions and 30 KEGG signal pathways. The biological processes that were significantly enriched were in response to extracellular stimulus and oxidative stress. Key modules constructed by the protein-protein interaction network analysis led to the confirmation of the following genes of interest: DCAF7, GABARAPL1, ACSL4, SESN2 and RB1. Further miRNA interaction prediction revealed the possible involvement of miRNAs such as miR108b-8p, miR34a-5p, mir15b-5p, miR-5838-5p, miR-192-5p, miR-222-3p and miR-23c. Immune-environment content of samples between DM and DPN patients revealed signi...