PANoptosis-related genes: Molecular insights into immune dysregulation in ulcerative colitis.

Background and aim: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease driven by immune dysregulation. PANoptosis, a novel form of programmed cell death, has been implicated in inflammatory diseases, but its specific role in UC remains unclear. This study aimed to identify PANoptosis-related genes (PRGs) that may contribute to immune dysregulation in UC.

Methods: Using bioinformatics analysis of the GEO databases, we identified seven hub PRGs. Based on these genes, we developed a predictive model to differentiate UC patients from healthy controls, and evaluated its diagnostic performance using ROC curve analysis. We further conducted functional enrichment, GSVA, and immune infiltration analyses. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to validate the expression of hub genes in UC patients.

Results: The prediction model, based on the seven hub genes, exhibited diagnostic ability in discriminating UC patients from controls. Furthermore, these hub PRGs were found to be associated with immune cells, including dendritic cells, NK cells, macrophages, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and CD8+ T cells. They were also linked to key signaling pathways implicated in UC pathogenesis, such as IFNγ, TNFα, IL6-and JAK-STAT3, as well as hypoxia and apoptosis. Immunohistochemistry analysis validated the expression levels of hub PRGs in UC patients using paraffin sections of intestinal biopsy specimens.

Conclusions: This study identified PANoptosis-related genes with potential diagnostic value for UC and suggest that PANoptosis may contribute to the pathogenesis of UC by regulating specific immune cells and interacting with key signaling pathways. This highlights the potential importance of PANoptosis-related genes as therapeutic targets in UC management.