Analysis of the potential molecular mechanisms of asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease

Abstract

Objective

Asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) often occur simultaneously, with GERD being a comorbidity of asthma. This study aimed to explore the biological markers related to asthma and GERD by bioinformatics analysis.

Methods

Initially, gene expression datasets for asthma and GERD were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, and subsequent differential expression analysis yielded 620 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for asthma and 2367 DEGs for GERD. The intersection of these two gene sets yielded a total of 84 DEGs. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses revealed that these genes may be involved in steroid hormone secretion and cellular stress response. Five hub genes (PTGDR2, CPA3, FCER1A, TPSAB1, and IL1RL1) were identified by a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and topological algorithm.

Results

Enrichment analysis results indicated that hub genes may be involved in hormone secretion and disease development, particularly in regulating the renin–angiotensin system and systemic arterial blood pressure. PTGDR2, CPA3, TPSAB1, and IL1RL1 were upregulated in both asthma and GERD patient groups, while FCER1A was upregulated in asthma patients but downregulated in GERD patients. Through drug prediction, 22 drugs targeting hub genes PTGDR2, FCER1A, and TPSAB1 were identified. By constructing a transcription factor (TF)-target gene network, we found that eight TFs may regulate the expression of PTGDR2, FCER1A, and IL1RL1.

Conclusion

Hence, Asthma and GERD were related to steroid hormone secretion and the renin–angiotensin system.

Keywords:

• Asthma
• gastroesophageal reflux disease
• enrichment analysis
• hub genes
• drug prediction

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Author contributions

Changdan Chen: conception and design. Wen Zhang and Changdan Chen: provision of study materials. Wei Zhang and Chenglin Jiang: collection and assembly of data. Xiujin Zheng: data analysis and interpretation. All authors: Manuscript writing and final approval of manuscript.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Disclosure statement

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 article.

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

Not applicable.