An integrative analysis to reveal that CLEC2B and ferroptosis may bridge the gap between psoriatic arthritis and cancer development

Patients with cutaneous psoriasis (PsC) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are reported with increased cancer risk, but the underlying mechanism is less clear, especially the association between the presence of PsA and cancer risk. Motivated by the role of ferroptosis in the progression of cancers as well as inflammation response in psoriasis, this experiment attempts to investigate the relationship between ferroptosis regulators and hub genes in PsA by bioinformatic analysis. The findings revealed an exclusive correlation between CISD1 (ferroptosis regulator) and CLEC2B (hub gene) in PsA group as well as multiple cancer types. Furthermore, CLEC2B was discovered differentially expressed in a variety of cancers and is closely associated with immune cell infiltration as well as immune checkpoints. These results indicate that ferroptosis may act as a bridge between psoriatic arthritis and the onset of certain malignancies.