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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Rheumatology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1520400
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series in Recent Advances in Potential Biomarkers for Rheumatic Diseases and in Cell-based Therapies in the Management of Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases: Volume III View all articles
Identification of immune characteristic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cuproptosis for rheumatoid arthritis by integrated bioinformatics analysis and single-cell RNA sequencing analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, China
- 2 Zhengzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
- 3 Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 4 First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 5 Wenzhou People’s Hospital, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disorder intricately liked with inflammation. Cuproptosis, an emerging type of cell death, has been implicated in the initiation and development of RA. However, the exact alterations in the expression and biological function of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in RA remain poorly understood. Therefore, our study aims to elucidate the potential association between CRGs and RA, with the goal of identifying novel biomarkers for the treatment and prognosis of RA. In this study, we identified ten differentially expressed cuproptosisrelated genes (DE-CRGs) between patients with RA and controls. Through comprehensive functional enrichment and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, we explored the functional roles of the DE-CRGs. Additionally, we investigated the correlation between DE-CRGs and immune infiltration, immune factors, diagnostic efficacy, and potential therapeutic drugs. Leveraging single-cell RNA sequencing data, we conducted a detailed analysis to elucidate alterations in various cell clusters associated with RA. Our study unveiled a significant association between DE-CRGs and diverse biological functions, as well as potential drug candidates. These findings provide crucial insights into the involvement of DE-CRGs in the pathogenesis of RA and shed light on potential therapeutic strategies.
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, cuproptosis, Immune infiltration, therapeutic drugs, Single-cell RNA
Received: 01 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Liu, Zhang, Chen and Lin. 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:
Xianbin Li, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, China
Dan Chen, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China
Suxian Lin, Wenzhou People’s Hospital, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China
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