Identification of Potential Biomarkers for Ulcerative Colitis and Analysis of Immune Cell Infiltration: A Study Based on Data‐Independent Acquisition Proteomics and the GEO Public Database
Shuai Wang, Hualiang Deng, Dajuan SunABSTRACT
Background
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a challenging inflammatory bowel disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the colon's mucosal layer. Despite advances in medical research, UC lacks definitive diagnostic tests and targeted treatments.
Aims
This study aimed to preliminarily explore non‐invasive potential biomarkers for UC based on proteomic analysis and publicly available GEO datasets.
Materials & Methods
Bioinformatics analyses including ssGSEA for immune infiltration assessment, Spearman correlation analysis, ROC analysis, GSEA, and in silico drug prediction were performed.
Results
Four candidate hub genes (KRT17, TCEA3, ACP5, and ACOT13) were identified. ROC analysis demonstrated their potential clinical diagnostic value, and GSEA revealed their association with inflammatory pathways. A total of 28 potential compounds targeting these biomarkers were predicted, among which cinacalcet was selected as a priority candidate drug for further research.
Conclusion
The identified hub genes have the potential to act as non‐invasive candidate biomarkers for the early diagnosis of UC.