[Single-cell RNA sequencing combined experimental verifies the core genes of dendritic cells in chronic obstructive...

Objective Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) and experimental verifies core genes of dendritic cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods scRNA-seq data GSE173896 and chip data GSE38974 were extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. GSE173896 was used to perform quality control, batch correction, dimensionality reduction clustering, cell type annotation and dendritic cell differentially expressed genes (DC-DEGs) identification. DEGs from the analysis of GSE38974 were intersected with DC-DEGs to obtain the common DC-DEGs. The diagnostic efficacy of the common DC-DEGs for COPD and their enrichment analysis were conducted. The correlation of the common DC-DEGs with activated dendritic cell (DCs), plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDCs) and type 17 T helper(Th17) cells were analyzed. The mRNA expression level of the common DC-DEGs in the lung tissue of emphysema mice was verified. Results From GSE173896, 18 DC-DEGs were obtained between groups and from GSE38974, 646 DEGs were obtained. The intersection of the two resulted in 3 common DC-DEGs, including interleukin 1 receptor antagonist 1 (IL1RN), S100 calcicum-binding protein A8 (S100A8) and S100A9. Their respective area under curve (AUC) values were 0.841, 0.804 and 0.966. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis mainly concentrated on chronic inflammatory response, collagen-containing extracellular matrix, receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) binding, Toll-like receptor (TLR) binding and interleukin 17 (IL-17) signaling pathway. IL1RN, S100A8 and S100A9 were positively correlated with activated DCs, pDCs and Th17 cells. The results showed that the mRNA relative expression levels of IL1RN, S100A8 and S100A9 were up-regulated in the lung tissue of emphysema mice. Conclusion IL1RN, S100A8 and S100A9 may be the core genes of DCs in the pathogenesis of COPD, which potentially provide targets and a theoretical basis for subsequent COPD immunotherapy.