Identification of Shared Immune Cells and Immune-Related Co-Disease Genes in Chronic Heart Failure and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Based on Transcriptome Sequencing

Abstract

Ziyue Luo,1,* Guifang Lu,2,* Qiang Yang,1 Juncan Ding,1 Tianyu Wang,1 Pengfei Hu3 1Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310053, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Rheumatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310005, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310005, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Pengfei Hu, Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310005, People’s Republic of China, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: The purpose was to identify shared immune cells and co-disease genes in chronic heart failure (HF) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), as well as explore the potential mechanisms of action between HF and SLE.Methods: A collection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from ten patients with HF and SLE and ten normal controls (NC) was used for transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis, enrichment analysis, immune infiltration analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis, and machine learning were applied for the screening of shared immune cells and co-disease genes in HF and SLE. Gene expression analysis and correlation analysis were used to explore the potential mechanisms of co-disease genes and immune cells in HF and SLE.Results: In this study, it was found that two immune cells, T cells CD4 naïve and Monocytes, displayed similar expression patterns in HF and SLE at the same time. By taking intersection of the above immune cell-associated genes with the DEGs common to both HF and SLE, four immune-associated co-disease genes, CCR7, RNASE2, RNASE3 and CXCL10, were finally identified. CCR7, as one of the four key genes, was significantly down-regulated in HF and SLE, while the rest three key genes were all significantly up-regulated in both diseases.Conclusion: T cells CD4 naïve and Monocytes were first revealed as possible shared immune cells of HF and SLE, and CCR7, RNASE2, RNASE3 and CXCL10 were identified as possible key genes common to HF and SLE as well as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for HF and SLE.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: heart failure, systemic lupus erythematosus, immunology, transcriptome sequencing, machine learning

Keywords

• purpose: the purpose was to identify shared immune cells and co-disease genes in chronic heart failure (hf) and systemic lupus erythematosus (sle)
• as well as explore the potential mechanisms of action between hf and sle. methods: a collection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) from ten patients with hf and sle and ten normal controls (nc) was used for transcriptome sequencing. differentially expressed genes (degs) analysis
• enrichment analysis
• immune infiltration analysis
• weighted gene co-expression network analysis (wgcna)
• protein-protein interaction (ppi) analysis
• and machine learning were applied for the screening of shared immune cells and co-disease genes in hf and sle. gene expression analysis and correlation analysis were used to explore the potential mechanisms of co-disease genes and immune cells in hf and sle. results: in this study
• it was found that two immune cells
• t cells cd4 naïve and monocytes
• displayed similar expression patterns in hf and sle at the same time. by taking intersection of the above immune cell-associated genes with the degs common to both hf and sle
• four immune-associated co-disease genes
• ccr7
• rnase2
• rnase3 and cxcl10
• were finally identified. ccr7
• as one of the four key genes
• was significantly down-regulated in hf and sle
• while the rest three key genes were all significantly up-regulated in both diseases. conclusions: t cells cd4 naïve and monocytes were first revealed as possible shared immune cells of hf and sle
• and ccr7
• rnase2
• rnase3 and cxcl10 were identified as possible key genes common to hf and sle as well as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for hf and sle.