Abstract
Basic science laboratory study. To identify hub genes related to bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) in ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) and analyze their functional characteristics. The exact etiology and pathological mechanism of OLF remain unclear. BMPs are pleiotropic osteoinductive proteins that may play a critical role in this condition. The GSE106253 and GSE106256 datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The mRNA and lncRNA expression profiles were obtained from GSE106253. The miRNA expression profiles were obtained from GSE106256. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between OLF and non-OLF groups and then intersected with BMP-related genes to obtain differentially expressed BMP-related genes (DEBRGs). The least absolute shrinkage selection operator (LASSO) and support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) were used to screen hub genes. Furthermore, a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed to explain the expression regulation of the hub genes in OLF. Finally, the protein and mRNA expression levels of the hub genes were verified using western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. We identified 671 DEGs and 32 DEBRGs. Hub genes ADIPOQ, SCD, SCX, RPS18, WDR82, and SPON1, identified via LASSO and SVM-RFE analyses, showed high diagnostic values for OLF. Furthermore, the ceRNA network revealed the regulatory mechanisms of the hub genes. RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression of the hub genes was significantly downregulated in the OLF group compared with the non-OLF group. Western blot showed that the protein levels of ADIPOQ, SCD, WDR82, and SPON1 were significantly downregulated, whereas those of SCX and RPS18 were significantly upregulated in the OLF group compared with the non-OLF group. This study is the first to identify BMP-related genes in OLF pathogenesis through bioinformatics analysis. ADIPOQ, SCD, SCX, RPS18, WDR82, and SPON1 were identified as hub genes for OLF. The identified genes may serve as potential therapeutic targets for treating patients with OLF.
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