Popis: |
Background: In recent years, it is proved that the immune system contributes a lot to the pathogenesis and progression of endometriosis (EM). Identifying the signature of immune cell infiltration, the immune related diagnostic biomarkers, and even the potential therapeutic targets in endometriosis patients will aid the early diagnosis and treatment of EM. Methods: Firstly, the microarray expression dataset was downloaded from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. Subsequently, the signature of immune cell infiltration of endometrium tissues was calculated through the xCell algorithm. The hub module most relevant to immune cells was selected through the weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by the limma package of R. The immune-related hub genes were further selected. Finally, the validation and clinical characteristics of hub genes were performed.Results: In our study, it was showed that macrophages and neutrophils were the main infiltrating immune cells in the endometrium tissue and 4 hub genes related to immune infiltration in ectopic lesions of EM were identified through multi-bioinformatic analysis. The expression of those hub genes (TNFSF13B, IL7R, CSF1R, LEP) in other validated datasets was consistent with our results. Each hub gene had significantly correlation with most of immune cells, and the area under the ROC curves (AUC) of those hub genes for disease diagnosis were all higher than 0.8. We also find that those hub genes were connectively concerned with the common complication infertility of EM.Conclusions: It is proved that the dysfunction of the immune system is connectively associated with the ectopic lesions of EM. And the immune related biomarkers (TNFSF13B, IL7R, CSF1R, LEP) may be helpful in the development of the pathogenesis, diagnosis and even the potential therapeutic targets of EM. |