Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) not only significantly increase morbidity and mortality but also cost a lot and drain healthcare resources. Persistent inflammation, decreased angiogenesis, and altered extracellular matrix remodeling contribute to delayed healing or non-healing. Recent studie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Vikrant Rai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Proteomes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7382/12/4/32
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846103025304731648
author Vikrant Rai
author_facet Vikrant Rai
author_sort Vikrant Rai
collection DOAJ
description Non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) not only significantly increase morbidity and mortality but also cost a lot and drain healthcare resources. Persistent inflammation, decreased angiogenesis, and altered extracellular matrix remodeling contribute to delayed healing or non-healing. Recent studies suggest an increasing trend of DFUs in diabetes patients, and non-healing DFYs increase the incidence of amputation. Despite the current treatment with offloading, dressing, antibiotics use, and oxygen therapy, the risk of amputation persists. Thus, there is a need to understand the molecular and cellular factors regulating healing in DFUs. The ongoing research based on proteomics and transcriptomics has predicted multiple potential targets, but there is no definitive therapy to enhance healing in chronic DFUs. Increased or decreased expression of various proteins encoded by genes, whose expression transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally is regulated by transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRs), regulates DFU healing. For this study, RNA sequencing was conducted on 20 DFU samples of ulcer tissue and non-ulcerated nearby healthy tissues. The IPA analysis revealed various activated and inhibited transcription factors and microRNAs. Further network analysis revealed interactions between the TFs and miRs and the molecular targets of these TFs and miRs. The analysis revealed 30 differentially expressed transcription factors (21 activated and 9 inhibited), two translational regulators (RPSA and EIF4G2), and seven miRs, including mir-486, mir-324, mir-23, mir-186, mir-210, mir-199, and mir-338 in upstream regulators (<i>p</i> < 0.05), while causal network analysis (<i>p</i> < 0.05) revealed 28 differentially expressed TFs (19 activated and 9 inhibited), two translational regulators (RPSA and EIF4G2), and five miRs including mir-155, mir-486, mir-324, mir-210, and mir-1225. The protein–protein interaction analysis revealed the interaction of various novel proteins with the proteins involved in regulating DFU pathogenesis and healing. The results of this study highlight many activated and inhibited novel TFs and miRs not reported in the literature so far, as well as the targeted molecules. Since proteins are the functional units during biological processes, alteration of gene expression may result in different proteoforms and protein species, making the wound microenvironment a complex protein interaction (proteome complexity). Thus, investigating the effects of these TFs and miRs on protein expression using proteomics and combining these results with transcriptomics will help advance research on DFU healing and delineate potential therapeutic strategies.
format Article
id doaj-art-c96ef9950b0948fd9b7f3c3f2e4dcb54
institution Kabale University
issn 2227-7382
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Proteomes
spelling doaj-art-c96ef9950b0948fd9b7f3c3f2e4dcb542024-12-27T14:49:27ZengMDPI AGProteomes2227-73822024-11-011243210.3390/proteomes12040032Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot UlcersVikrant Rai0Department of Translational Research, Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second Street, Pomona, CA 91766-1854, USANon-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) not only significantly increase morbidity and mortality but also cost a lot and drain healthcare resources. Persistent inflammation, decreased angiogenesis, and altered extracellular matrix remodeling contribute to delayed healing or non-healing. Recent studies suggest an increasing trend of DFUs in diabetes patients, and non-healing DFYs increase the incidence of amputation. Despite the current treatment with offloading, dressing, antibiotics use, and oxygen therapy, the risk of amputation persists. Thus, there is a need to understand the molecular and cellular factors regulating healing in DFUs. The ongoing research based on proteomics and transcriptomics has predicted multiple potential targets, but there is no definitive therapy to enhance healing in chronic DFUs. Increased or decreased expression of various proteins encoded by genes, whose expression transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally is regulated by transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRs), regulates DFU healing. For this study, RNA sequencing was conducted on 20 DFU samples of ulcer tissue and non-ulcerated nearby healthy tissues. The IPA analysis revealed various activated and inhibited transcription factors and microRNAs. Further network analysis revealed interactions between the TFs and miRs and the molecular targets of these TFs and miRs. The analysis revealed 30 differentially expressed transcription factors (21 activated and 9 inhibited), two translational regulators (RPSA and EIF4G2), and seven miRs, including mir-486, mir-324, mir-23, mir-186, mir-210, mir-199, and mir-338 in upstream regulators (<i>p</i> < 0.05), while causal network analysis (<i>p</i> < 0.05) revealed 28 differentially expressed TFs (19 activated and 9 inhibited), two translational regulators (RPSA and EIF4G2), and five miRs including mir-155, mir-486, mir-324, mir-210, and mir-1225. The protein–protein interaction analysis revealed the interaction of various novel proteins with the proteins involved in regulating DFU pathogenesis and healing. The results of this study highlight many activated and inhibited novel TFs and miRs not reported in the literature so far, as well as the targeted molecules. Since proteins are the functional units during biological processes, alteration of gene expression may result in different proteoforms and protein species, making the wound microenvironment a complex protein interaction (proteome complexity). Thus, investigating the effects of these TFs and miRs on protein expression using proteomics and combining these results with transcriptomics will help advance research on DFU healing and delineate potential therapeutic strategies.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7382/12/4/32diabetic foot ulcersnon-healing ulcersamputationtranscription factorsmicroRNAtherapeutic target
spellingShingle Vikrant Rai
Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Proteomes
diabetic foot ulcers
non-healing ulcers
amputation
transcription factors
microRNA
therapeutic target
title Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
title_full Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
title_fullStr Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
title_full_unstemmed Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
title_short Transcriptomics Revealed Differentially Expressed Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs in Human Diabetic Foot Ulcers
title_sort transcriptomics revealed differentially expressed transcription factors and micrornas in human diabetic foot ulcers
topic diabetic foot ulcers
non-healing ulcers
amputation
transcription factors
microRNA
therapeutic target
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7382/12/4/32
work_keys_str_mv AT vikrantrai transcriptomicsrevealeddifferentiallyexpressedtranscriptionfactorsandmicrornasinhumandiabeticfootulcers