Establishment of Ferroptosis-Related Key Gene Signature and Its Validation in Compression-Induced Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Rats

Cell death and functional loss of nucleus pulposus cell play essential roles in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Ferroptosis is a newly identified cell death type, and its role in IDD is still under investigation. Identifying the key genes of ferroptosis in IDD helps to identify the therapeutic targets of IDD. In this study, we downloaded the human IDD mRNA microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus and ferroptosis genes from FerrDb, then performed a series of analyses using strict bioinformatics algorithms. In general, we obtained 40 ferroptosis-related differential expression genes (FerrDEGs) and identified six ferroptosis key gene signatures, namely, ATF3, EIF2S1, AR, NQO1, TXNIP, and AKR1C3. In addition, enrichment analysis of the FerrDEGs was conducted, the protein-protein interaction network was constructed, the correlations between ferroptosis key genes and immune infiltrating cells were analyzed, and the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network was constructed. In particular, ATF3 and EIF2S1 showed the strongest correlation with immune cell function, which might lead to the development of IDD. Finally, the expressions of ferroptosis key genes were verified in the rat compression-induced IDD. In conclusion, this preliminary study analyzed and verified the mechanism of ferroptosis in IDD, laid a foundation for the follow-up study of the mechanism of ferroptosis in IDD, and provided new targets for preventing and delaying IDD.