Cervicodynia/Omalgia/Lumbago/Sciatica Department 2, Sichuan Provincial Orthopedics Hospital, No. 132 West First Section First Ring Road,Wuhou District, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
College Hospital, Sichuan Agricultural University-Chengdu Campus, NO. 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan Province, China.
BMC Neurol. 2021 Feb 3;21(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s12883-021-02078-y.
Although the pathology of sciatica has been studied extensively, the transcriptional changes in the peripheral blood caused by sciatica have not been characterized. This study aimed to characterize the peripheral blood transcriptomic signature for sciatica.
We used a microarray to identify differentially expressed genes in the peripheral blood of patients with sciatica compared with that of healthy controls, performed a functional analysis to reveal the peripheral blood transcriptomic signature for sciatica, and conducted a network analysis to identify key genes that contribute to the observed transcriptional changes. The expression levels of these key genes were assessed by qRT-PCR.
We found that 153 genes were differentially expressed in the peripheral blood of patients with sciatica compared with that of healthy controls, and 131 and 22 of these were upregulated and downregulated, respectively. A functional analysis revealed that these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were strongly enriched for the inflammatory response or immunity. The network analysis revealed that a group of genes, most of which are related to the inflammatory response, played a key role in the dysregulation of these DEGs. These key genes are Toll-like receptor 4, matrix metallopeptidase 9, myeloperoxidase, cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, resistin and Toll-like receptor 5, and a qRT-PCR analysis validated the higher transcript levels of these key genes in the peripheral blood of patients with sciatica than in that of healthy controls.
We revealed inflammatory characteristics that serve as a peripheral blood transcriptomic signature for sciatica and identified genes that are essential for mRNA dysregulation in the peripheral blood of patients with sciatica.
尽管坐骨神经痛的病理学已得到广泛研究，但坐骨神经痛引起的外周血转录变化尚未得到描述。本研究旨在描述坐骨神经痛的外周血转录组特征。
我们使用微阵列来鉴定坐骨神经痛患者与健康对照者外周血中的差异表达基因，进行功能分析以揭示坐骨神经痛的外周血转录组特征，并进行网络分析以鉴定导致观察到的转录变化的关键基因。通过 qRT-PCR 评估这些关键基因的表达水平。
我们发现，与健康对照组相比，坐骨神经痛患者外周血中有 153 个基因差异表达，其中 131 个上调，22 个下调。功能分析表明，这些差异表达基因（DEGs）强烈富集于炎症反应或免疫。网络分析表明，一组基因，其中大多数与炎症反应有关，在这些 DEGs 的失调中起关键作用。这些关键基因是 Toll 样受体 4、基质金属蛋白酶 9、髓过氧化物酶、抗菌肽 cathelicidin、抵抗素和 Toll 样受体 5，qRT-PCR 分析验证了这些关键基因在外周血中的转录水平在坐骨神经痛患者中高于健康对照组。
我们揭示了作为坐骨神经痛外周血转录组特征的炎症特征，并鉴定了在外周血中对 mRNA 失调至关重要的基因。
