Title:Bioinformatic Analysis to Identify and Cellular Experiments to Validate
Autophagy-related Genes in Psoriasis
Volume: 27
Issue: 9
Author(s): Ruimin Bai, Shaobo Wu, Xinyi Liu, Zixuan Xing, Ruiting Luo, Wen Zhang, Meng Liu, Xinyu Ma, Hao Lei, Ning Wang and Yan Zheng*
Affiliation:
- Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.277 Yanta West Road,
Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, China
Keywords:
Psoriasis, autophagy, bioinformatics, GEO, gene ontology (GO), DEGs.
Abstract:
Purpose: To explore differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with autophagy in
psoriasis using bioinformatics analysis and verify them in an M5-induced psoriatic cell model.
Methods: We obtained gene expression microarray data from patients with psoriasis and normal
skin tissues from the dataset GSE78097 of the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.
R software was used to identify DEGs associated with autophagy in psoriasis. Proteinprotein
interaction (PPI) and correlation analyses were used to show interactions between certain
genes. Their potential biological roles were determined using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto
Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. Finally, all the DEGs associated
with autophagy in psoriasis were validated in a psoriatic cell model by RT-qPCR.
Results: 28 DEGs associated with autophagy were identified. These genes were linked to one
another, and the most connected hub gene was VEGFA, according to PPI analysis. GO and
KEGG enrichment analyses revealed various biological pathways associated with autophagy.
The RT-qPCR findings of the expression of 18 genes in the psoriatic cell model confirmed
the bioinformatics analysis results. The five genes with the most significant differences were
IL24, CCL2, NAMPT, PPP1R15A, and SPHK1.
Conclusion: We identified DEGs associated with autophagy in patients with psoriasis. IL24,
CCL2, NAMPT, PPP1R15A, and SPHK1 were identified as important genes that may influence
psoriasis development through the regulation of autophagy.