Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1469805
This article is part of the Research Topic Immunity, Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Disease: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cardiometabolic Health View all articles

Screening of m6A-associated ferroptosis-related genes in atherosclerosis based on WGCNA analysis

Provisionally accepted
Meiling Jiang Meiling Jiang 1,2Weidong Zhao Weidong Zhao 2Liyong Wu Liyong Wu 2*Guofu Zhu Guofu Zhu 2*
  • 1 Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
  • 2 The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) have been shown to mediate ferroptosis, but the role in atherosclerosis (AS)is unclear. Methods: Differentially expressed m6A-associated ferroptosis-related genes (DE-m6A-Ferr-RGs) were obtained by differential expression analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was also performed. The intersection of the module genes and the DE-m6A-Ferr-RGs were recorded as candidate m6A-Ferr-related signature genes. Finally, the m6A-Ferr-related signature genes were screened by lasso analysis. Expression validation, ROC mapping, and immune correlation analysis were also performed based on the m6A-Ferr-related signature genes. The expression of m6A-Ferr-related signature genes was further validated by RT-qPCR. Results: 6167 DEGs were intersected with 24 m6A-and 259 ferroptosis-related genes, respectively, resulting in 113 DE-m6A-Ferr-RGs by pearson correlation analysis. The module genes obtained from WGCNA analysis and the 113 DE-m6A-Ferr-RGs were intersected to obtain 48 candidate m6A-Ferr-related signature genes. Lasso analysis was performed and 6 m6A-Ferr-related signature genes were screened. In addition, the AUC values of all 6 m6A-Ferr-related signature genes were greater than 0.7, indicating that they had potential diagnostic values. Meanwhile, The RT-qPCR results revealed that the expression of SLC3A2, NOX4 and CDO1 was consistent with the transcriptome level. Moreover, 2 types of immune cells showed significant differences between AS and control groups. And naive B cells, CD8+ T cells, Tregs, and activated NK cells were positively correlated with CDO1 and NOX4, but negatively correlated with ATG7, CYBB, and SLC3A2. Conclusion: 3 m6A-Ferr-related signature genes (NOX4, CDO1, and SLC3A2) were obtained by a series of bioinformatics analyses and RT-qPCR.

    Keywords: M6A, ferroptosis, m6A-Ferr-related signature genes, WGCNA, Immune infiltration

    Received: 24 Jul 2024; Accepted: 10 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Zhao, Wu and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Liyong Wu, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650031, Yunnan Province, China
    Guofu Zhu, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650031, Yunnan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.