Identification and immunoinfiltration analysis of key genes in ulcerative colitis using WGCNA

Objective. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic non-specific inflammatory bowel disease characterized by an unclear pathogenesis. This study aims to screen out key genes related to UC pathogenesis. Methods. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted for screening key genes linked to UC pathogenesis, and the expression of the screened key genes was verified by establishing a UC mouse model. Results. Through bioinformatics analysis, five key genes were obtained. Subsequent infiltration analysis revealed seven significantly different immune cell types between the UC and general samples. Additionally, animal experiment results illustrated markedly decreased body weight, visible colonic shortening and damage, along with a significant increase in the DAI score of the DSS-induced mice in the UC group in comparison with the NC group. In addition, H&E staining results demonstrated histological changes including marked inflammatory cell infiltration, loss of crypts, and epithelial destruction in the colon mucosa epithelium. qRT-PCR analysis indicated a downregulation of ABCG2 and an up -regulation of IL1RN, REG4, SERPINB5 and TRIM29 in the UC mouse model. Notably, this observed trend showed a significant dependence on the concentration of DSS, with the mouse model of UC induced by 7% DSS demonstrating a more severe disease state compared to that induced by 5% DSS. Conclusion. ABCG2, IL1RN, REG4, SERPINB5 and TRIM29 were screened out as key genes related to UC by bioinformatics analysis. The expression of ABCG2 was downregulated, and that of IL1RN, REG4, SERPINB5 and TRIM29 were up -regulated in UC mice as revealed by animal experiments.