Identification of Disease-Specific Hub Biomarkers and Immune Infiltration in Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Tissues by Bioinformatics Analysis.

backgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are well-known cause of joint disability. Although they have shown the analogous clinical features involving chronic synovitis that progresses to cartilage and bone destruction, the pathogenesis that initiates and perpetuates synovial lesions between RA and OA remains elusive.

objectiveThis study is aimed at identifying disease-specific hub genes, exploring immune cell infiltration, and elucidating the underlying mechanisms associated with RA and OA synovial lesion.

methodsGene expression profiles (GSE55235, GSE55457, GSE55584, and GSE12021) were selected from Gene Expression Omnibus for analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by the "LIMMA" package in Bioconductor. The DEGs were identified by Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analysis. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed to identify candidate hub genes by using STRING and Cytoscape. Hub genes were identified by validating from GSE12021. Furthermore, we employed the CIBERSORT website to assess immune cell infiltration between OA and RA. Finally, we explored the correlation between the levels of hub genes and relative proportion of immune cells in OA and RA.

resultsWe identified 68 DEGs which were mainly enriched in immune response and chemokine signaling pathway. Six hub genes with a cutoff of AUC > 0.80 by ROC analysis and relative expression of

conclusionsWe used bioinformatics analysis to identify hub genes and explored immune cell infiltration of immune microenvironment in synovial tissues. Our results should offer insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of synovial lesion and provide potential target for immune-based therapies of OA and RA.