Exploration of the shared pathways and common biomarker PAN3 in ankylosing spondylitis and ulcerative colitis using integrated bioinformatics analysis

Minna Zhang; Junyi Zhou; Honggang Wang; Le He; Jingyi Wang; Xiaozhong Yang; Xiaomin Zhong

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1089622

Exploration of the shared pathways and common biomarker PAN3 in ankylosing spondylitis and ulcerative colitis using integrated bioinformatics analysis

Front Immunol. 2023 Jan 18:14:1089622. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1089622. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Minna Zhang¹, Junyi Zhou², Honggang Wang^{1

3}, Le He¹, Jingyi Wang¹, Xiaozhong Yang¹, Xiaomin Zhong²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, China.
² Department of Oncology, The Huai'an Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, China.
³ Digestive Disease Center, The Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic autoimmune-related disease that causes inflammation of the intestine. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a common extraintestinal complication of UC involving the sacroiliac joint. However, the pathogenesis of AS secondary to UC has not been studied. This study aimed to investigate the shared pathways and potential common biomarkers of UC and AS.

Methods: Microarray data downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the UC and AS datasets. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify co-expression modules related to UC and AS. Shared genes were then further analyzed for functional pathway enrichment. Next, the optimal common biomarker was selected using SVM-RFF and further validated using two independent GEO datasets. Finally, immune infiltration analysis was used to investigate the correlation of immune cell infiltration with common biomarkers in UC and AS.

Results: A total of 4428 and 2438 DEGs in UC and AS, respectively, were screened. Four modules were identified as significant for UC and AS using WGCNA. A total of 25 genes overlapped with the strongest positive and negative modules of UC and AS. KEGG analysis showed these genes may be involved in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. GO analysis indicated that these genes were significantly enriched for RNA localization. PAN3 was selected as the optimal common biomarker for UC and AS. Immune infiltration analysis showed that the expression of PAN3 was correlated with changes in immune cells.

Conclusion: This study first explored the common pathways and genetic diagnostic markers involved in UC and AS using bioinformatic analysis. Results suggest that the MAPK signaling pathway may be associated with both pathogeneses and that PAN3 may be a potential diagnostic marker for patients with UC complicated by AS.

Keywords: PAN3; ankylosing spondylitis; mitogen-activated protein kinase; ulcerative colitis; weighted gene co-expression network analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Colitis, Ulcerative* / diagnosis
Colitis, Ulcerative* / genetics
Colitis, Ulcerative* / metabolism
Computational Biology / methods
Gene Expression Profiling / methods
Genetic Markers
Humans
Spondylitis, Ankylosing* / genetics

Substances

Genetic Markers

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Huai’an Key Laboratory of Aging and Geriatric Syndrome Research (HAP202105).