Implication of m6A methylation regulators for the immune microenvironment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Abstract Objective: to evaluate the effect of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation regulators on the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Methods: Transcriptome data related BPD was downloaded from the GEO. Differentially expressed m6A methylation regulators between BPD and control group were identified. Consensus clustering was conducted for the classification of BPD and its association with the phenotypes were conducted. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and immune related DEGs (DEMGs) analysis was performed. The GSEA, GO and KEGG were applied to interpret the functional enrichments. The composition of immune cell subtypes in BPD subsets was predicted by CIBERSORT analysis. Results: Compared with control group, the alteration of most m6A regulators expression were detected, especially for IGF2BP1/2/3. The BPD was classified into 2 subsets, of which cluster 1 was correlated with severe BPD. Furthermore, the functional enrichment results showed a disturbed immune-related signaling pathway. The CIBERSORT analysis found that the proportion of immune cell subsets changed between cluster1 and cluster 2. Conclusions: Our study revealed an implication of m6A methylation regulators for the development of BPD, which might provide a novel insight for the diagnosis and treatment for BPD.