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Updated: Oct 30, 2025
Three-Dimensional Imaging of Aortic Tissues in Atherosclerosis
Published on: October 25, 2024
Patterns of Immune Infiltration and the Key Immune-Related Genes in Acute Type A Aortic Dissection in Bioinformatics
Fengshou Chen1, Jie Han1, Bing Tang1
1Department of Anesthesiology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China.
Background:
Immune-inflammatory mechanisms contribute greatly to the complex process leading to type A aortic dissection (TAAD). This study aims to explore immune infiltration and key immune-related genes in acute TAAD.
Methods:
ImmuCellAI algorithm was applied to analyze patterns of immune infiltration in TAAD samples and normal aortic vessel samples in the GSE153434 dataset. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened. Immune-related genes were obtained from overlapping DEGs of GSE153434 and immune genes of the ImmPort database. The hub genes were obtained based on the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The hub genes in TAAD were validated in the GSE52093 dataset. The correlation between the key immune-related genes and infiltrating immune cells was further analyzed.
Results:
In the study, the abundance of macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer T cells (NKT cells), natural regulatory T cells (nTreg), T-helper 17 cells (Th17 cells) and monocytes was increased in TAAD samples, whereas that of dendritic cells (DCs), CD4 T cells, central memory T cells (Tcm), mucosa associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells) and B cells was decreased. Interleukin 6 (IL-6), C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were identified and validated in the GSE52093 dataset as the key immune-related genes. Furthermore, IL-6, CCL2 and HGF were correlated with different types of immune cells.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, several immune cells such as macrophages, neutrophils, NKT cells, and nTreg may be involved in the development of TAAD. IL-6, CCL2 and HGF were identified and validated as the key immune-related genes of TAAD via bioinformatics analyses. The key immune cells and immune-related genes have the potential to be developed as targets of prevention and immunotherapy for patients with TAAD.
