CXCR4 and RAC2 as Biomarkers of Periodontitis and Their Potential Influence on Macrophage Infiltration

Abstract

Objective Chronic periodontitis is an incurable infectious disease characterized by complex inflammatory immune response. This study aimed was to screen and identify effective biomarkers correlated with macrophage in chronic periodontitis. Materials and methods Periodontitis datasets obtained from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) were analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional enrichment analysis of DEGs by GO and KEGG revealed multiple biological processes and signaling pathways related to immune response. Further analysis was performed on two immune-related gene databases, ImmPort and innateDB, to identify DEGs related to immune cells infiltration in chronic periodontitis. Subsequently, Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were established to reveal hub genes with MCC algorithm using CytoHubba tool. Enrichment analysis in DisGeNet showed that immune-related DEGs were enriched in periodontitis. Next, CIBERSORTx tool was analyzed to investigate immune cells infiltration in GSE10334 dataset. Results The results demonstrated differential macrophage infiltration in periodontitis. Notably, RAC2 and CXCR4 were identified as biomarkers correlated with M2 macrophages in chronic periodontitis. Finally, receiver operating curve (ROC) was plotted to determine the diagnostic value of identified hub genes which was then validated using relevant datasets of macrophages. Conclusion RAC2 and CXCR4 are potential biomarker of chronic periodontitis correlated with M2 macrophages infiltration. Further experiments are needed to more deeply explore the roles of CXCR4 and RAC2 in the molecular mechanism of M2 macrophages in periodontitis microenvironment.