DDX58 and CXCL10 have potential as key biomarkers for lymph node tuberculosis

Aim To explore the pathogenic mechanism of lymph node tuberculosis and to mine potential key genes. Methods Gene expression profiles of pulmonary tuberculosis (GSE83456), lymph node tuberculosis (GSE63548) and healthy controls were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Screening common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pulmonary tuberculosis and lymph node tuberculosis, enrichment analysis of DEGs and their functionally related modules were performed. Cytoscape was used to screen hub genes, and verify their expression levels, further predict transcription factors to mine the final key genes. Finally, the expression levels of CXCL10 and DDX58 were observed by ROC curves and immunohistochemical staining to verify the diagnostic effect of key genes on lymph node tuberculosis. Results 60 differential genes involved in pulmonary tuberculosis and lymph node tuberculosis were screened for subsequent analysis. Functional enrichment analysis highlights that type I interferon-mediated signaling and viral infection play important roles in pathogenicity. Subsequently, 14 hub genes were screened and their expression was significantly upregulated in tuberculosis patient. 4 transcription factors involved in regulating hub genes were further mined. DDX58 and CXCL10, which are regulated by transcription factors IRF1, are considered key genes, and the ROC results suggested good diagnostic efficacy, AUC are 0.992 and 0.974 respectively. Conclusions Our study revealed a common pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis and lymph node tuberculosis. DDX58 and CXCL10 play an important role that cannot be ignored, and provide new ideas for further investigation of biomarkers in lymph node tuberculosis disease. Immunohistochemical staining showed significantly higher expression levels of CXCL10 and DDX58 in patients with lymph node tuberculosis.