Discovery of CLEC2B as a diagnostic biomarker and screening of celastrol as a candidate drug for psoriatic arthritis through bioinformatics analysis

BACKGROUND: Psoriatic arthritis (PSA) is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory joint disease that is liked to mortality due to cardiovascular disease. Diagnostic markers and effective therapeutic options for PSA remain limited due to the lack of understanding of the pathogenesis. We aimed to identify potential diagnostic markers and screen the therapeutic compounds for PSA based on bioinformatics analysis. METHODS: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of PSA were identified from the GSE61281 dataset. WGCNA was used to identify PSA-related modules and prognostic biomarkers. Clinical samples were collected to validate the expression of the diagnostic gene. These DEGs were subjected to the CMap database for the identification of therapeutic candidates for PSA. Potential pathways and targets for drug candidates to treat PSA were predicted using Network Pharmacology. Molecular docking techniques were used to validate key targets. RESULTS: CLEC2B was identified as a diagnostic marker for PSA patients (AUC > 0.8) and was significantly upregulated in blood samples. In addition, celastrol was identified as a candidate drug for PSA. Subsequently, the network pharmacology approach identified four core targets (IL6, TNF, GAPDH, and AKT1) of celastrol and revealed that celastrol could treat PSA by modulating inflammatory-related pathways. Finally, molecular docking demonstrated stable binding of celastrol to four core targets in the treatment of PSA. Animal experiments indicated celastrol alleviated inflammatory response in the mannan-induced PSA. CONCLUSION: CLEC2B was a diagnostic marker for PSA patients. Celastrol was identified as a potential therapeutic drug for PSA via regulating immunity and inflammation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13018-023-03843-0.