Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the primary causes of end-stage renal disease, yet effective therapeutic targets remain elusive. This study aims to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic candidates for DN. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in GSE96804 and GSE142025 were identified and functional enrichment analysis was performed. Diagnostic biomarkers were selected using machine learning algorithms and evaluated by Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis. c-Fos expression was validated in an established DN mouse model. Immune infiltration levels were assessed with Single-Sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. Co-expression analysis revealed regulatory relationships involving FOS. cMAP predicted potential therapeutic candidates. Transcriptome sequencing and experiments in RAW264.7 cells was performed to investigate molecular mechanisms of emetine. Results: In both datasets, we identified 44 upregulated and 74 downregulated DEGs involved in focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interaction, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. FOS emerged as a robust diagnostic marker with decreased expression in DN patients and DN mouse. Co-expression analysis revealed potential regulatory mechanisms of FOS, implicating the MAPK signaling pathway, regulation of cell proliferation and apoptotic signaling pathways. Immune dysregulation was observed in DN patients. Notably, emetine was identified as a potential therapeutic candidate. Transcriptome sequencing and experimental validation demonstrated emetine suppressed M1 macrophage polarization by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, as well as reducing the expression of Il-18 and Ccl5. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study identified FOS as a promising diagnostic biomarker and emetine as a potential therapeutic candidate for DN. These findings enhance our understanding of DN pathogenesis and present novel prospects for therapeutic strategies.

Background. Immunotherapy offers a novel approach for the treatment of cutaneous melanoma, but the clinical efficiency varies for individual patients. In consideration of the high cost and adverse effects of immunotherapy, it is essential to explore the predictive biomarkers of outcomes. Recently, the tumor mutation burden (TMB) has been proposed as a predictive prognosticator of the immune response. Method. RNA-seq and somatic mutation datasets of 472 cutaneous melanoma patients were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to analyze mutation type and TMB. Differently expressed genes (DEGs) were identified for functional analysis. TMB-related signatures were identified via LASSO and multivariate Cox regression analysis. The association between mutants of signatures and immune cells was evaluated from the TIMER database. Furthermore, the Wilcox test was applied to assess the difference in immune infiltration calculated by the CIBERSORT algorithm in risk groupings. Results. C>T substitutions and TTN were the most common SNV and mutated gene, respectively. Patients with low TMB presented poor prognosis. DEGs were mainly implicated in skin development, cell cycle, DNA replication, and immune-associated crosstalk pathways. Furthermore, a prognostic model consisting of eight TMB-related genes was developed, which was found to be an independent risk factor for treatment outcome. The mutational status of eight TMB-related genes was associated with a low level of immune infiltration. In addition, the immune infiltrates of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and M1 macrophages were higher in the low-risk group, while those of M0 and M2 macrophages were higher in the high-risk group. Conclusion. Our study demonstrated that a higher TMB was associated with favorable survival outcome in cutaneous melanoma. Moreover, a close association between prognostic model and immune infiltration was identified, providing a new potential target for immunotherapy.

Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is an intricate complication of diabetes with limited treatment options. Anoikis, a programmed cell death activated by loss of cell anchorage to the extracellular matrix, participated in various physiological and pathological processes. Our study aimed to elucidate the role of anoikis-related genes in DKD pathogenesis. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with anoikis in DKD were identified. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was conducted to identify DKD-correlated modules and assess their functional implications. A diagnostic model for DKD was developed using LASSO regression and Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was performed for enrichment analysis. Experimental validation was employed to validate the significance of selected genes in the progression of DKD. Results: We identified 10 anoikis-related DEGs involved in key signaling pathways impacting DKD progression. WGCNA highlighted the yellow module’s significant enrichment in immune response and regulatory pathways. Correlation analysis further revealed the association between immune infiltration and anoikis-related DEGs. Our LASSO regression-based diagnostic model demonstrated a well-predictive efficacy with seven identified genes. GSVA indicated that gene function in the high-risk group was primarily associated with immune regulation. Further experimental validation using diabetic mouse models and data analysis in the single-cell dataset confirmed the significance of PYCARD and SFN in DKD progression. High glucose stimulation in RAW264.7 and TCMK-1 cells showed significantly increased expression levels of both Pycard and Sfn. Co-expression analysis demonstrated distinct functions of PYCARD and SFN, with KEGG pathway analysis showing significant enrichment in immune regulation and cell proliferation pathway. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in DKD pathogenesis, specifically highlighting the role of anoikis-related genes in modulating immune infiltration. These findings suggest that targeting these genes may hold promise for future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in DKD management.

Re-activation of fetal haemoglobin (HbF) has been proved to be an effective strategy for the treatment of β-haemoglobinopathies. In this study, we identified TEA domain transcription factor 4 (TEAD4) as a new potential regulator of HbF by integrating public data sets with quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis in β-thalassaemia patients. Significant negative correlation was observed between the expression of TEAD4 and HbF levels in β-thalassaemia patients. Functional validations of TEAD4 inhibition in both β-thalassaemia CD34⁺ cells and HUDEP-2 cells indicated that depletion of TEAD4 led to a significant increase of HbF. Finally, we identified a binding motif of TEAD4 on γ-globin gene promoters; its disruption consistently led to de-repression of HbF. Taken together, these results demonstrate that TEAD4 could act as a transcriptional inhibitor of the γ-globin gene through direct binding on its promoter. Our findings demonstrate a novel role of TEAD4 on the regulation of HbF, which may benefit patients with β-haemoglobinopathies.