Identification of key genes and pathways in syphilis combined with diabetes: a bioinformatics study

Wei Li,Xiangping Zhou,Shuangquan Liu,Xinhua Xiao,Yongjian Xiao,Tiebing Zeng,Yimou Wu,Feijun Zhao,Chunyi Luo,Xiaoping Xie,Bo Fu,Jialun Cai

doi:10.1186/s13568-020-01009-3

Abstract

We noticed that syphilis patients seem to be more susceptible to diabetes and the lesions often involve the kidneys, but the pathogenesis is not yet completely understood. In this study, microarray analysis was performed to investigate the dysregulated expressed genes (DEGs) in rabbit model of syphilis combined with diabetes. A total of 1045 genes were identified to be significantly differentially expressed, among which 571 were up-regulated and 474 were down-regulated (≥ 2.0fold, p < 0.05). Using the database visualization and integration discovery for the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genome (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. The downregulated DEGs were significantly enriched for biosynthesis of antibiotics, carbon metabolism and protein digestion, while the upregulated DEGs were mainly enriched for cancer and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) plugins were used to visualize protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs and Screening for hub genes and gene modules. ALB, FN1, CASP3, MMP9, IL8, CTGF, STAT3, IGF1, VCAM-1 and HGF were filtrated as the hub genes according to the degree of connectivity from the PPI network. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively identify the expression patterns of dysregulated genes in syphilis combined with diabetes, providing a basis for revealing the underlying pathogenesis of syphilis combined with diabetes and exploring the goals of therapeutic intervention.

Highlights

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by either absolute and/or relative deficiency of insulin production or action or both
We identified 1045 dysregulated expressed genes (DEGs) altogether (Additional file 1), of which 571 and 474 were upregulated and downregulated respectively in syphilis combined with DM (Fig. 2a)
The previous reports indicate that comparatively uncomplicated DM or syphilis, there are significant differences in clinical symptoms, treatment plans and treatment effects for Syphilis combined with DM (Comassi et al 2016; Duarte et al 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by either absolute and/or relative deficiency of insulin production or action or both. 57.8% of patients with neurosyphilis were diagnosed with DM at the same time, and 80% of patients were diagnosed with DM within 5 years after diagnosis of neurosyphilis (Yang et al 2014). Another recent retrospective study reported that 0.8% of DM patients in Spain had syphilis-positive serological results (Esparza-Martin et al 2013). With the widespread application and development of sequencing, bioinformatics analysis has great advantages in understanding the pathophysiology of syphilis with diabetes on the basis of genetics.

Methods

Results

Conclusion