Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Nov 21;17(11):e0277952. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277952. eCollection 2022.
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR) is a chronic complication of Diabetes and the main cause of blindness among the world's working population at present. While there have been many studies on the pathogenesis of PDR, its intrinsic molecular mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. In recent years, several studies have employed bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to profile differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and cellular components associated with PDR. This study adds to this expanding body of work by identifying PDR's target genes and cellular components by conducting an integrated transcriptome bioinformatics analysis. This study integrately examined two public bulk RNA-seq datasets(including 11 PDR patients and 7 controls) and one single-cell RNA-seq datasets(including 5 PDR patients) of Fibro (Vascular) Membranes (FVMs) from PDR patients and control. A total of 176 genes were identified as DEGs between PDR patients and control among both bulk RNA-seq datasets. Based on these DEGs, 14 proteins were identified in the protein overlap within the significant ligand-receptor interactions of retinal FVMs and Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network, three of which were associated with PDR (CD44, ICAM1, POSTN), and POSTN might act as key ligand. This finding may provide novel gene signatures and therapeutic targets for PDR.
增殖性糖尿病视网膜病变（PDR）是糖尿病的一种慢性并发症，也是目前世界劳动人口失明的主要原因。虽然已经有很多关于 PDR 发病机制的研究，但它的内在分子机制尚未完全阐明。近年来，一些研究采用批量 RNA 测序（RNA-seq）和单细胞 RNA 测序（scRNA-seq）来分析与 PDR 相关的差异表达基因（DEGs）和细胞成分。本研究通过对 PDR 患者和对照的成纤维（血管）膜（FVM）进行综合转录组生物信息学分析，确定了 PDR 的靶基因和细胞成分，为这一不断发展的研究领域做出了贡献。本研究综合分析了两个公共批量 RNA-seq 数据集（包括 11 名 PDR 患者和 7 名对照）和一个单细胞 RNA-seq 数据集（包括 5 名 PDR 患者）中来自 PDR 患者和对照的 FVM 的基因表达谱。在两个批量 RNA-seq 数据集中，共鉴定出 176 个 PDR 患者和对照之间的差异表达基因。基于这些 DEGs，在视网膜 FVM 的显著配体-受体相互作用和蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络的蛋白质重叠中鉴定出 14 种蛋白质，其中 3 种与 PDR 相关（CD44、ICAM1、POSTN），POSTN 可能作为关键配体发挥作用。这一发现可能为 PDR 提供新的基因特征和治疗靶点。
