Study On The Relationship Between Silicosis Susceptibility Gene And Silicon Level In Silica Dust Workers

Objectives Screening the differentially expressed genes in lung tissues of occupational silicosis patients,namely silicosis susceptibility genes,combined with the level of silicon in silica dust workers,to explore the diagnostic biomarkers of silicosis,providing theoretical reference for the early diagnosis of silicosis and the pathogenesis of silicosis.Methods The m RNA sequencing data of biological samples from silicosis and healthy control population were retrieved from Pub Med website,and the differentially expressed genes were screened out.GO enrichment analysis,KEGG signaling pathway analysis and protein interaction identification of differentially expressed genes were performed.The MCODE plug-in in Cytoscape software was used for cluster analysis to evaluate the key modules of PPI network.The Hub gene was screened by cyto Hubba plug-in,and the hub gene expression was searched in the data set of other silicosis and related diseases.If hub gene was differentially expressed in at least two data sets,it could be regarded as silicosis susceptibility gene.A total of 330 workers in an iron mine who participated in occupational physical examination from April 2021 to October 2021 were included in the study,including79 healthy control population without dust exposure(control group),112 healthy workers engaged in silica dust operation(dust exposure group),and 139 occupational silicosis patients(silicosis group).Serum and urine samples were collected.Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-q PCR)was used to detect the relative expression levels of 7 susceptible genes in 10 serum samples of each group.The concentrations of silicon in serum and urine of all subjects were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS),and the correlation between silicon level and susceptibility gene of silicosis in silicon dust exposed workers was analyzed.Results 1 244 up-regulated and 566 down-regulated differentially expressed genes were screened.Bioinformatics revealed 6 up-regulated HUB genes: SPP1,TIMP1,VCAM1,IFNG,SERPINE1 and IGF1,and 6 down-regulated HUB genes: DNAI2,DNAI1,CCDC114,RSPH4 A,RSPH1 and DNAAF3 are closely related to the occurrence and development of silicosis.2 The m RNA expression levels of SPP1,TIMP1,VCAM1,SERPINE1,IGF1,DNAI1 and CCDC114 in serum samples of silicosis group,dust exposure group and control group were detected by RT-q PCR.Compared with the control group,the gene expression trends of silicosis group except DNAI1 were consistent with the bioinformatics results.Only IGF1 expression trend in dust exposure group was consistent with bioinformatics results.Compared with dust exposure group,only the expression trend of TIMP1 in silicosis group was consistent with the bioinformatics results.3 The concentrations of silicon in serum and urine of the subjects were detected by ICP-MS,and there was no significant difference between the dust exposure group and the silicosis group.Compared with the control group,the concentration of blood silicon and urine silicon in dust exposure group and silicosis group showed an increasing trend,and the concentration of blood silicon and urine silicon in dust exposure group was significantly higher than that in control group and silicosis group,and the change trend of blood silicon and urine silicon in each group was consistent.4Correlation analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between silicosis susceptibility genes and silicon levels in the subjects,but there was a certain correlation between the differentially expressed genes.Conclusions SPP1,TIMP1,VCAM1,SERPINE1,IGF1,DNAI1 and CCDC114 genes were differently expressed in silicosis,and these susceptible genes may be potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of silicosis.The levels of silicon in serum and urine were different among different groups of subjects,suggesting that the levels of silicon in blood and urine can be used as a reference index for early diagnosis of silicosis.However,no clear correlation was found between silicosis susceptibility genes screened out by bioinformatics methods and silicon levels in vivo.Figure 7;Table 20;Reference 115...