{"title":"Integrated Analysis of Ferroptosis and Immune Infiltration in Ulcerative Colitis Based on Bioinformatics.","authors":"Daxing Cai, Weitao Hu, Yanliang Cai, Taiyong Fang, Xiaoqing Chen","doi":"10.2147/JIR.S501651","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease influenced by genetic, immune, and environmental factors. This study investigates the link between ferroptosis, a cell death process related to oxidative stress and iron metabolism, and immune infiltration in UC.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>We analyzed UC patient transcription data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and identified ferroptosis-related genes using FerrDB. Using STRING and Cytoscape, we analyzed protein-protein interactions to identify hub UC Differentially Expressed Genes (UCDEGs) and performed functional enrichment with GO and KEGG pathways. Machine learning helped further identify key UC Differentially Expressed Ferroptosis-related genes (UCDE-FRGs), which were validated using additional GEO datasets and immunohistochemical staining.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 11 hub UCDEGs (<i>CCL2, ICAM1, TLR2, CXCL9, MMP9, CXCL10, IL1B, CXCL8, PTPRC, FCGR3A</i>, and <i>IL1A</i>) and 3 key UCDE-FRGs (<i>DUOX2, LCN2</i> and <i>IDO1</i>) were identified. GO and KEGG functional enrichment indicates that these genes play a role in immunity and ferroptosis. Analysis of immune cell infiltration showed that there were a large number of Plasma cells, Monocytes, M0/M1 Macrophages and Neutrophils in the UC. Correlation analysis revealed 3 key UCDE-FRGs associated with immune-infiltrated cells in UC. IHC results showed that the expression levels of 3 key UCDE-FRGs in UC were all higher than that in the healthy controls.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In summary, this study identified three key genes related to UC ferroptosis and immunity, namely <i>DUOX2, IDO1</i> and <i>LCN2</i>. These findings suggest that immune infiltration plays an important role in UC caused by ferroptosis, and that there is mutual regulation between UC and immune-infiltrated cells. Our research revealed the potential application of immune and ferroptosis in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of UC, providing new strategies for clinical management.</p>","PeriodicalId":16107,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Inflammation Research","volume":"18 ","pages":"3535-3549"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11908401/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Inflammation Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/JIR.S501651","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"IMMUNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease influenced by genetic, immune, and environmental factors. This study investigates the link between ferroptosis, a cell death process related to oxidative stress and iron metabolism, and immune infiltration in UC.
Materials and methods: We analyzed UC patient transcription data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and identified ferroptosis-related genes using FerrDB. Using STRING and Cytoscape, we analyzed protein-protein interactions to identify hub UC Differentially Expressed Genes (UCDEGs) and performed functional enrichment with GO and KEGG pathways. Machine learning helped further identify key UC Differentially Expressed Ferroptosis-related genes (UCDE-FRGs), which were validated using additional GEO datasets and immunohistochemical staining.
Results: A total of 11 hub UCDEGs (CCL2, ICAM1, TLR2, CXCL9, MMP9, CXCL10, IL1B, CXCL8, PTPRC, FCGR3A, and IL1A) and 3 key UCDE-FRGs (DUOX2, LCN2 and IDO1) were identified. GO and KEGG functional enrichment indicates that these genes play a role in immunity and ferroptosis. Analysis of immune cell infiltration showed that there were a large number of Plasma cells, Monocytes, M0/M1 Macrophages and Neutrophils in the UC. Correlation analysis revealed 3 key UCDE-FRGs associated with immune-infiltrated cells in UC. IHC results showed that the expression levels of 3 key UCDE-FRGs in UC were all higher than that in the healthy controls.
Conclusion: In summary, this study identified three key genes related to UC ferroptosis and immunity, namely DUOX2, IDO1 and LCN2. These findings suggest that immune infiltration plays an important role in UC caused by ferroptosis, and that there is mutual regulation between UC and immune-infiltrated cells. Our research revealed the potential application of immune and ferroptosis in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of UC, providing new strategies for clinical management.
期刊介绍：
An international, peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that welcomes laboratory and clinical findings on the molecular basis, cell biology and pharmacology of inflammation.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
