Screening of sphingolipid metabolism-related genes associated with immune cells in myocardial infarction: a bioinformatics analysis

BACKGROUND: Inflammation and immune cell infiltration in infarcted myocardial tissue are critical to myocardial infarction (MI) prognosis, and alterations in sphingolipid metabolism (SM) have been shown to potentially influence the inflammatory response and induce cardioprotection, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We therefore performed bioinformatics analysis to screen for key genes of SM in MI immune cells. METHODS: Three matrix files including GSE61145, GSE23294, and GSE71906 were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. GSE61145 was a human peripheral blood database, and GSE23294 and GSE71906 were 2 mouse myocardial tissue databases. R and annotation packages were used to screen for differentially-expressed genes (DEGs). Datasets of human and mouse cardiac tissues were downloaded from the GEO database for subsequent validation. The downloaded platform and matrix files were processed using R language and annotation packages. Key targets and enrichment pathways were identified using Gene Ontology (GO) term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. The Wilcoxon test was performed on the genes involved in SM pathways in neutrophils. RESULTS: A total of 261 DEGs were obtained from human peripheral blood datasets, among which 101 were immune-related. GO analysis revealed that neutrophil activation, T cell activation, and T cell differentiation were significantly enriched in the immune-related DEGs. Three types of immune cells were identified in infarcted myocardial tissues. In addition, 194 DEGs were obtained from mouse myocardial tissue data, among which 6 SM-related genes (Asah1, Degs1, Neu1, Sptlc2, Sphk1, and Gba2) were significantly associated with MI. Evaluation of the relationships between these DEGs and neutrophils showed that the expression of the Sptlc2 gene was significantly upregulated in neutrophils of the MI group, while the expression levels of the Asah1 and Degs1 genes were downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: We identified 3 SM-related genes that were highly associated with neutrophils in MI, which may advance our understanding of SM in immune cells after MI.