BMC Geriatrics (Jul 2023)

Identification of a novel immune-related transcriptional regulatory network in sarcopenia

  • Xianzhong Zhang,
  • Guanglou Zhu,
  • Fengmin Zhang,
  • Dingye Yu,
  • Xuyang Jia,
  • Bingwei Ma,
  • Weizhe Chen,
  • Xinyu Cai,
  • Lingzhou Mao,
  • Chengle Zhuang,
  • Zhen Yu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04152-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Abstract Background Sarcopenia is highly prevalent in elderly individuals and has a significant adverse effect on their physical health and quality of life, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Studies have indicated that transcription factors (TFs) and the immune microenvironment play a vital role in skeletal muscle atrophy. Methods RNA-seq data of 40 muscle samples were downloaded from the GEO database. Then, differentially expressed genes (DEGs), TFs(DETFs), pathways(DEPs), and the expression of immune gene sets were identified with limma, edgeR, GO, KEGG, ORA, GSVA, and ssGSEA. Furthermore, the results above were integrated into coexpression analysis by Pearson correlation analysis (PCA). Significant coexpression patterns were used to construct the immune-related transcriptional regulatory network by Cytoscape and potential medicine targeting the network was screened by Connectivity Map. Finally, the regulatory mechanisms and RNA expression of DEGs and DETFs were identified by multiple online databases and RT‒qPCR. Results We screened 808 DEGs (log2 fold change (FC) > 1 or 0.7 or 1 or 0.4 or < − 0.4, p < 0.01), we then structured an immune-related network with 4 DETFs, 9 final DEGs, 11 final DEPs, and 6 final DEIGSs. Combining the results of online databases and in vitro experiments, we found that PAX5-SERPINA5-PI3K/Akt (CC ≤ 0.444, p ≤ 0.004) was a potential transcriptional regulation axis, and B cells (R = 0.437, p = 0.005) may play a vital role in this signal transduction. Finally, the compound of trichostatin A (enrichment = -0.365, specificity = 0.4257, p < 0.0001) might be a potential medicine for sarcopenia based on the PubChem database and the result of the literature review. Conclusions We first identified immune-related transcriptional regulatory network with high-throughput RNA-seq data in sarcopenia. We hypothesized that PAX5-SERPIAN5-PI3K/Akt axis is a potential mechanism in sarcopenia and that B cells may play a vital role in this signal transduction. In addition, trichostatin A might be a potential medicine for sarcopenia.

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