Identifying Key Genes and Functionally Enriched Pathways in B cells from Peripheral Blood of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients by Bioinformatics Analysis and Validation

Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis is a common chronic inflammatory disease. B cells are critical for the development of RA, but so far, we still know little about the role of B cells in the pathogenesis of RA. In the present study, we downloaded mRNA expression profiles of B cells from the peripheral blood (BCPB) of 7 RA patients and 9 healthy people from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) in conjunction with differentially expressed gene (DEGs) analysis, we identified 23 RA-trait different expression genes. In the subsequent protein protein interaction (PPI) network constructed by RA-trait DEGs, we eventually identified 5 hub genes (TLR8, CCR2, CX3CR1, GIMAP6 and C1QA). Compared with healthy people, these hub genes are significantly highly expressed in BCPB of RA patients in the dataset GSE4588. qRT-PCR results showed TLR8, CCR2, CX3CR1 were compatible with our bioinformatics analyses. Combined with other biological interpretations, our current study might provide a basis for identifying key genes and potential pathways related to the pathogenesis of BCPB of RA patients.