Stomatology ›› 2024, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 184-191.doi: 10.13591/j.cnki.kqyx.2024.03.005

• Basic and Clinical Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Immune-related genes shared between Crohn's disease and periodontitis and their potential as diagnostic biomarkers

ZHANG Zhihao1,YANG Yi2,WANG Yueqiu3,SUN Siyi4,CHEN Hong1,SHU Fei1,LIU Mei1()   

  1. Department of Prosthodontics, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China
  • Received:2023-08-29 Online:2024-03-28 Published:2024-03-20

Abstract:

Objective To investigate shared immune-related genes between periodontitis and Crohn's disease (CD), explore their common pathophysiology, and assess the value of relevant genes as diagnostic biomarkers. Methods Gene expression data for CD and periodontitis were obtained from the GEO database. After data preprocessing, differential expression analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional enrichment and disease ontology analysis were conducted on the common DEGs, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to the CD and periodontitis databases to determine key modules most relevant to the diseases. Perturbation genes were further selected. Immunocyte profiles in CD and periodontitis were assessed using single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). A diagnostic model for CD and periodontitis, based on genes most associated with immunity, was constructed and validated using an independent dataset. Results A total of 143 common differentially expressed genes were identified. Functional enrichment analysis highlighted the significant role of immunity in both CD and periodontitis. WGCNA analysis identified 11 perturbation genes, and subsequent immune infiltration analysis revealed four genes (Genes HLA-DMA, CD38, PIM2 and TGM2) closely associated with CD, periodontitis and immune response. The diagnostic model built using these four genes demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance in both the training and external validation datasets. Conclusion Genes HLA-DMA, CD38, PIM2 and TGM2 are involved in the development of CD and periodontitis, playing crucial roles in immune responses. The diagnostic model constructed with these four genes exhibits strong diagnostic efficacy for both diseases.

Key words: immunity, diagnostic, periodontitis, Crohn's disease, biomarkers, bioinformatics

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