Time series analysis of gene changes and processes after burn with human gene expression profiles

Severe burns might be followed by severe infection associated with high mortality. In this study, we aimed to identify changes in genes and processes across time points after burn via analyzing time series gene expression profiles in burn patients and control from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Patients were classified into four groups according to time after burn and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) obtained three gene modules including magenta, yellow and greenyellow modules that significantly correlated positively with time after burn. We also identified four groups of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in samples at 0-1d, 1-2d, 2-4d, and 4-7d after burn compared with controls. Functional enrichment analysis of those DEGs indicated significant enrichment of inflammatory/immune related processes throughout time points after burn, while, samples at later time points were also closely associated with cell activation regulation related processes. Short time series expression analysis of overlapping genes among the four lists of DEGs screened out two temporal gene expression profiles that exhibited decreasing and increasing expression trend across times after burn, and genes contained in those two profiles might be related to pathologic changes after severe burn.