[Bioinformatical analysis of differentially expressed genes in alveolar macrophages of chronic obstructive pulmonary...

Objective To analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in alveolar macrophages (AMs) of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their potential roles in the pathogeneses of COPD using bioinformatics. Methods Gene chip and RNA sequencing data sets of AMs in patients with COPD were downloaded from GEO. Limma and Degseq2 packages in R software were applied to obtain DEGs, and the GO enrichment analysis, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction analysis (PPI), and the hub gene analysis were performed to predict the molecular mechanisms of DEGs. Results Through the integration of three data sets, a total of 43 DEGs of AMs were obtained, and the function predictive analysis found that the 43 DEGs were primarily related to chemokines, cytokines, complement, cytochrome P450, etc., which mainly included the significantly low expression of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9), CXCL11, etc. and the significantly high expression of cytochrome P450 family 1 subfamily B member 1 (CYP1B1). Conclusion The DEGs of AMs in patients with COPD are related to the molecular mechanisms of immunity and inflammation and might be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation of COPD.