Identification of potential crucial genes and key pathways shared in acute pancreatitis and major depression disorder by bioinformatics analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background Despite the presence of evidence indicating a correlation between Acute Pancreatitis (AP) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), the precise mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of these two conditions remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate potential crosstalk genes, pathways and immune cell between AP and MDD. Methods We downloaded the AP and MDD data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Shared genes were identified using differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Subsequently, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. Core genes were screened by cross and overlap of WGCNA and DEGs. The sensitivity and specificity of the candidate genes were evaluated using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted. Finally, the CIBERSORT was used to analyze immune infiltration, and the Spearman correlation between immune cells and candidate genes was computed using the psych package. Results By intersecting the WGCNA and DEGs, the TBC1D2, SFXN, and F12 genes were identified as the key cross-talk genes between AP and MDD. The results of the LASSO analysis demonstrated that these three core genes have significant diagnostic value for AP and MDD. The results of immune infiltration analysis indicated that Macrophages M2, Macrophages M0, memory resting CD4 T cells, and memory B cells are crucially involved in the pathogenesis of AP and MDD. Conclusion This study represents the first attempt to investigate the genetic relationship between AP and MDD using bioinformatics tools. The TBC1D2、SFXN and F12 genes were the most important cross-talk genes between AP and MDD. Macrophages, memory resting CD4 T cells and memory B cells-driven immune responses may play an important role in the association between AP and MDD.