Abstract
Background
Graves’ disease (GD) is an autoimmune disease, the incidence of which is increasing yearly. GD requires long-life therapy. Therefore, the potential immune-related biomarkers of GD need to be studied.
Method
In our study, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were derived from the online Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) microarray expression dataset GSE71956. Protein‒protein interaction (PPI) network analyses were used to identify hub genes, which were validated by qPCR. GSEA was used to screen potential pathways and related immune cells. Next, CIBERSORT analysis was used to further explore the immune subtype distribution pattern among hub genes. ROC curves were used to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of hub genes.
Result
44 DEGs were screened from the GEO dataset. Two hub genes, EEF1A1 and EIF4B, were obtained from the PPI network and validated by qPCR (p < 0.05). GSEA was conducted to identify potential pathways and immune cells related to these the two hub genes. Immune cell subtype analysis revealed that hub genes had extensive associations with many different types of immune cells, particularly resting memory CD4+ T cells. AUCs of ROC analysis were 0.687 and 0.733 for EEF1A1 and EIF4B, respectively.
Conclusion
Our study revealed two hub genes, EEF1A1 and EIF4B, that are associated with resting memory CD4+ T cells and potential immune-related molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets of GD.
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Acknowledgements
Throughout the writing of this dissertation, I have received a great deal of support and assistance. I would first like to thank my supervisor, H.X., whose expertise was invaluable in formulating the research questions and methodology. Your insightful feedback pushed me to sharpen my thinking and brought my work to a higher level. I would particularly like to acknowledge my colleagues J.W., H.Z., B.L., Y.C., F.Q., and J.L. for their wonderful collaboration and patient support.
Funding
This work has been in part supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81773741 and 81973329) and Natural Science Foundation Project of Shanghai (19ZR1440800).
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Y.Z., X.X. and H.X. conceived of and designed the project. J.W., B.L. and F.Q. acquired the data, and Y.C., B.L. and H.Z. analyzed and interpreted the data. Y.Z. and J.W. wrote the paper.
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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethical Committee of Shanghai General Hospital (Date 2018-2-27/No 2018KY088).
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Zhang, Y., Wei, J., Zhou, H. et al. Identification of two potential immune-related biomarkers of Graves’ disease based on integrated bioinformatics analyses. Endocrine 78, 306–314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-022-03156-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-022-03156-y