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. 2024 Aug 15:919:148502.
doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148502. Epub 2024 Apr 24.

Cellular senescence-Related genes define the immune microenvironment and molecular characteristics in severe asthma patients

Qibin Lin  1 , Zhishui Zheng  1 , Haiyang Ni  1 , Yaqing Xu  2 , Hanxiang Nie  3
Affiliations

Cellular senescence-Related genes define the immune microenvironment and molecular characteristics in severe asthma patients

Qibin Lin et al. Gene. .

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that cellular senescence is involved in the pathogenesis of severe asthma (SA). The objective of this study was to investigate the role of cellular senescence-related genes (CSGs) in the pathogenesis of SA. Here, 54 differentially expressed CSGs were identified in SA patients compared to healthy control individuals. Among the 54 differentially expressed CSGs, 3 CSGs (ETS2, ETS1 and AURKA) were screened using the LASSO regression analysis and logistic regression analysis to establish the CSG-based prediction model to predict severe asthma. Moreover, we found that the protein expression levels of ETS2, ETS1 and AURKA were increased in the severe asthma mouse model. Then, two distinct senescence subtypes of SA with distinct immune microenvironments and molecular biological characteristics were identified. Cluster 1 was characterized by increased infiltration of immature dendritic cells, regulatory T cells, and other cells. Cluster 2 was characterized by increased infiltration levels of eosinophils, neutrophils, and other cells. The molecular biological characteristics of Cluster 1 included aerobic respiration and oxidative phosphorylation, whereas the molecular biological characteristics of Cluster 2 included activation of the immune response and immune receptor activity. Then, we established an Random Forest model to predict the senescence subtypes of SA to guide treatment. Finally, potential drugs were searched for each senescence subgroup of SA patients via the Connectivity Map database. A peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonist may be a potential therapeutic drug for patients in Cluster 1, whereas a tachykinin antagonist may be a potential therapeutic drug for patients in Cluster 2. In summary, CSGs are likely involved in the pathogenesis of SA, which may lead to new therapeutic options for SA patients.

Keywords: Cellular senescence; Immune microenvironment; Molecular biological characteristics; Senescence subtypes; Severe asthma; Treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.