Elucidating macrophage scavenger receptor 1's mechanistic contribution as a shared molecular mediator in obesity and thyroid cancer pathogenesis via bioinformatics analysis.

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a disease characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat. Concurrently, thyroid carcinoma (THCA) stands as the foremost endocrine malignancy. Despite the observed escalation in concurrent prevalence of both conditions, the underlying interconnections remain elusive. This indicates the need to identify potential biomarkers to predict the pathways through which obesity and THCA coexist.

Methods: The study employed a variety of methods, including differential gene expression analysis, Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), and gene enrichment analysis. It was also supplemented with immunohistochemical data from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA), advanced machine learning techniques, and related experiments such as qPCR, to identify important pathways and key genes shared between obesity and THCA.

Results: Through differential gene expression analysis, WGCNA, and machine learning methods, we identified three biomarkers (IL6R, GZMB, and MSR1) associated with obesity. After validation analysis using THCA-related datasets and biological experiments, we selected Macrophage Scavenger Receptor 1 (MSR1) as a key gene for THCA analysis. The final analysis revealed that MSR1 is closely related to the degree of immune cell infiltration in patients with obesity and THCA, suggesting that this gene may be a potential intervention target for both obesity and THCA.

Discussion: Our research indicates that MSR1 may influence the occurrence and development of obesity and THCA by regulating the infiltration level of immune cells. This lays the foundation for future research on targeted therapies based on their shared mechanisms.