94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Genetics and Systems Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1499065
Comprehensive Bioinformatics Analysis of Hub Genes in Ischemic Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Rehabilitation, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- 2 Department of Osteoarthropathy Rehabilitation, the Second Rehabilitation Hospital of Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) frequently coexist and mutually influence each other. The association between AF and the subtype of HF, Ischaemic heart failure (IHF), remains insufficiently described, despite their high prevalence. Hence, comprehending their underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and identifying new therapeutic targets are urgently needed.Objective: This exploration aims to unearth related genes and pathways of IHF and AF, offering new perspectives for their joint diagnosis and treatment.Methods: Datasets for HF (GSE57338) and AF (GSE128188) were acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Intersecting these sets generated common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for further analyses, including Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, protein-protein interaction (PPI), and hub gene identification. Subsequently, the HF dataset (GSE116250) and AF dataset (GSE2240) were utilized to confirm the expression of the hub genes, followed by examination of gene expression patterns across cells in single-cell datasets.Results: The study identified 20 common DEGs. Among them, 10 hub genes (SFRP4, FMOD, HAPLN1, LTBP2, SVEP1, BCL6, ANPEP, CD38, ATRNL1, and BEX1) were found to be associated with the co-occurrence of IHF and AF. Enrichment analysis revealed the predominant involvement of these hub genes in extracellular matrix (ECM). Data from the Uniprot database revealed the involvement of the Wnt signaling pathway and TGF-β1/Smads signaling pathway in the development and progression of AF and IHF. Single-cell analysis demonstrated high gene expression primarily in monocytes.Conclusion: The identified 10 hub genes can serve as potentially valuable biomarkers for IHF and AF. Enrichment analysis reveals that these potential biomarkers are significantly associated with ECM, nicotinate, and nicotinamide metabolism, providing a foundational target for the joint diagnosis and treatment of the two diseases.
Keywords: Heart Failure, Atrial Fibrillation, Common differentially expressed genes, biomarkers, Hub genes, Ischemic heart failure
Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 11 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Xu, Zhang, Yang and Zheng. 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:
Jiejiao Zheng, Department of Rehabilitation, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 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.