Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease: new insights from bioinformatics

AIMS: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are related conditions with an increasing incidence. The mechanism of their relationship remains undefined. Here, we aimed to explore the potential mechanisms, diagnostic markers, and therapeutic options for HFpEF and NAFLD. METHODS AND RESULTS: HFpEF and NAFLD datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened for functional annotation. A protein–protein interaction network was constructed based on the STRING database, and hub genes were analysed using GeneMANIA annotation. ImmuCellAI (Immune Cell Abundance Identifier) was employed for analysis of immune infiltration. We also used validation datasets to validate the expression levels of hub genes and the correlation of immune cells. To screen for diagnostic biomarkers, we employed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and support vector machine‐recursive feature elimination. Drug signature database was used to predict potential therapeutic drugs. Our analyses identified a total of 33 DEGs. Inflammation and immune infiltration played important roles in the development of both diseases. The data showed a close relationship between chemokine signalling pathway, cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, calcium signalling pathway, neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, osteoclast differentiation, and cyclic guanosine monophosphate‐protein kinase G signalling pathway. We demonstrated that PRF1 (perforin 1) and IL2RB (interleukin‐2 receptor subunit beta) proteins were perturbed by the diseases and may be the hub genes. The analysis showed that miR‐375 may be a potential diagnostic marker for both diseases. Our drug prediction analysis showed that bosentan, eldecalcitol, ramipril, and probucol could be potential therapeutic options for the diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed common pathogenesis, diagnostic markers, and therapeutic agents for HFpEF and NAFLD. There is need for further experimental studies to validate our findings.