Comprehensive analysis of ferroptosis and its correlation with peripheral immune infiltration in epileptic patients

Aim of the study was to explore the association between ferroptosis genes in peripheral blood and immune infiltration in epileptic patients.

Our study investigated epilepsy-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differential ferroptosis genes in the peripheral blood of epilepsy patients. Additionally, we collected serum from 45 epileptic patients and 45 healthy individuals to detect ferroptosis-related indicators and validate the expression levels of randomly selected differential ferroptosis genes. Subsequently, we screened model-related genes by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and constructed a diagnostic model. Moreover, we analyzed peripheral immune infiltration through single-sample gene set enrichment analysis, and assessed the correlation between model-related genes and FerroScore with immune infiltration in epilepsy.

Epilepsy-related DEGs were markedly enriched in the immune pathway and may be involved in ferroptosis. According to our findings, glutathione was dramatically lower in epileptic patients, whereas the expression of ATG5 was significantly elevated. Furthermore, based on 26 model-related differential ferroptosis genes, FerroScore was constructed and exhibited favorable diagnostic performance (AUC: 0.573-0.763). Herein, seven genes (FBXW7, MYB, QSOX1, PARP15, RB1, PTGS2, and TFRC) showed a significant correlation with FerroScore. Finally, notable variations in peripheral immune infiltration were observed in epileptic patients, with PRR5 and FerroScore showing close associations with them.

Taken together, our observations suggest that in the peripheral blood of epileptic patients, FerroScore may help identify the occurrence of ferroptosis, while ferroptosis is strongly associated with immune infiltration. The study may shed novel light on the pathogenesis and treatment of epilepsy.