Significance of N6-methyladenosine RNA methylation regulators in diagnosis and subtype classification of primary Sjögren's syndrome

Jiaoyan Li; Kaihong Xie; Minxian Xu; Ye Wang; Yinghong Huang; Tao Tan; Hui Xie

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24860

Significance of N6-methyladenosine RNA methylation regulators in diagnosis and subtype classification of primary Sjögren's syndrome

Heliyon. 2024 Jan 23;10(3):e24860. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24860. eCollection 2024 Feb 15.

Authors

Jiaoyan Li¹, Kaihong Xie², Minxian Xu², Ye Wang³, Yinghong Huang¹, Tao Tan⁴, Hui Xie^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The First Hospital of Changsha, Changsha, 410005, Hunan Province, PR China.
² Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital (Clinical College) of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, 423000, Hunan Province, PR China.
³ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital (Clinical College) of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, 423000, Hunan Province, PR China.
⁴ Faulty of Applied Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao, 999078, PR China.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital (Clinical College) of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, 423000, Hunan Province, PR China.

Abstract

The importance of N6-methyladenine (m6A) in mRNA metabolism, physiology, pathology and other life processes is well recognized. However, the exact role of m6A regulators in primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) remains unclear. In this study, we used bioinformatics and machine learning random forest approach to screen eight key m6A regulators from the Gene Expression Omnibus GSE7451, GSE40611 and GSE84844 datasets. An accurate nomogram model for predicting PSS risk was established based on these regulators. And using consensus clustering, patients diagnosed with PSS were classified into two different m6A patterns. We found that patients in group B had higher m6A scores compared to those in group A: furthermore, both groups were closely related to immunity and possibly to other diseases. These results emphasise the important role of m6A regulators in the pathogenesis of PSS. Our study of m6A patterns may inform future immunotherapy strategies for PSS.

Keywords: Gene expression omnibus database; N6-methyladenosine; PSS; Primary Sjögren’s syndrome; RNA methylation regulators; m6A.