Bioinformatics Analysis of the Molecular Mechanism of Aging on Fracture Healing

Increasing age negatively affects different phases of bone fracture healing. The present study aimed to explore underlying mechanisms related to bone fracture repair in the elderly. GSE17825 public transcriptome data from the Gene Expression Omnibus database were used for analysis. First, raw data were normalized and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Next, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses were implemented to evaluate pathways and DEGs. A protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was then constructed. A total of 726, 861, and 432 DEGs were identified between the young and elderly individuals at 1, 3, and 5 days after fracture, respectively. The results of GO, KEGG, and PPI network analyses suggested that the inflammatory response, Wnt signaling pathway, vascularization-associated processes, and synaptic-related functions of the identified DEGs are markedly enriched, which may account for delayed fracture healing in the elderly. These findings provide valuable clues for investigating the effects of aging on fracture healing but should be validated through further experiments.