Identification and analysis of exosome-associated signatures in pediatric sepsis by integrated bioinformatics

Junming Huang1, Lichuan Lai2, Jinji Chen3

  • 1Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.

Peerj
|January 13, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric sepsis (PS) involves immune dysregulation and exosome-related genes (ERGs). This study identified key ERGs and developed accurate machine learning models for early PS detection and prognosis.

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical research
  • Genomics
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Pediatric sepsis (PS) is a life-threatening condition with immune dysregulation, involving exosome-mediated immune modulation.
  • Understanding exosome-related genes (ERGs) is crucial for identifying diagnostic and therapeutic targets in PS.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of ERGs in the pathogenesis of pediatric sepsis.
  • To identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for PS.

Main Methods:

  • Differential expression analysis of 56 ERGs across four GEO datasets (GSE66099, GSE13904, GSE26378, GSE26440).
  • Consensus clustering to identify PS subtypes based on ERG expression patterns.
  • Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify PS-related genes (SRGs) and construct machine learning diagnostic models.

Main Results:

  • Identified 21 significantly altered ERGs in PS, revealing two distinct PS subtypes.
  • WGCNA highlighted hub genes in exosome function and PS, with enriched immune pathways (phagocytosis, NF-κB signaling).
  • Machine learning models achieved high diagnostic accuracy (AUC > 0.995), identifying CD177, GYG1, IRAK3, MCEMP1, and TLR5 as key biomarkers, validated externally.

Conclusions:

  • Elucidated the critical role of ERGs and immune dysregulation in pediatric sepsis pathogenesis.
  • Developed highly accurate diagnostic models for early detection and prognosis of PS, offering promising clinical tools.
Abstract