Identification of immune-associated genes for the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis-associated carcinogenesis via integrated bioinformatics analysis

作者：Xueyu Cang, Ning Li, Jihan Qi, Hongliang Chen, Hui Xing, Jiawei Qiu, Yingying Tian, Shiling Huang, PengChao Deng, Feiyang Gao, Ram Prasad Chaulagain, Ubaid Ullah, Chunjing Wang, Lina Liu, Shizhu Jin · 发表于：Frontiers in Oncology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3389/fonc.2024.1475189 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis、Inflammatory Bowel Disease、Immune cells in cancer

Background: UC patients suffer more from colorectal cancer (CRC) than the general population, which increases with disease duration. Early colonoscopy is difficult because ulcerative colitis-associated colorectal cancer (UCAC) lesions are flat and multifocal. Our study aimed to identify promising UCAC biomarkers that are complementary endoscopy strategies in the early stages. Methods: The datasets may be accessed from the Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas databases. The co-expressed modules of UC and CRC were determined via weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The biological mechanisms of the shared genes were exported for analysis using the Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. To identify protein interactions and hub genes, a protein-protein interaction network and CytoHubba analysis were conducted. To evaluate gene expression, external datasets and experimental validation of human colon tissues were utilized. The diagnostic value of core genes was examined through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Immune infiltration analysis was employed to investigate the associations between immune cell populations and hub genes. Results: Three crucial modules were identified from the WGCNA of UC and CRC tissues, and 33 coexpressed genes that were predominantly enriched in the NF-κB pathway were identified. Two biomarkers (CXCL1 and BCL6) were identified via Cytoscape and validated in external datasets and human colon tiss...