Abstract
PURPOSE: Screening specific biomarkers for Septic Cardiomyopathy (SCM) to provide research targets for early identification and prognosis assessment. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples from 20 sepsis patients and 10 healthy volunteers were collected for RNA sequencing. Subsequently, an intersection was taken between the differentially expressed genes in sepsis and the heart-specific expressed genes. This intersecting gene set was subjected to PPI analysis, GO enrichment, and KEGG pathway analysis. Survival analysis was employed to screen for potential hub gene and assess the relationship between the gene and prognosis. ROC curve was used to determine the diagnostic value of the hub target. Single-cell RNA sequencing was utilized to identify the cellular localization of the core gene, aiding in the selection of reliable cell lines for experimental validation. RESULTS: The sepsis differential gene intersected with 1000 heart-specific genes for 40 targets. Survival analysis identified PTGDS as a potential core gene, with its expression levels positively correlating with the prognosis of sepsis patients. Notably, PTGDS emerged as a promising candidate, achieving an AUC of 0.898 in ROC curve analysis for diagnosing sepsis. It is important to note that these findings are based on an initial, proof-of-principle cohort with a limited sample size. Single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrated that PTGDS is primarily expressed in NK cells and T cells. A violin plot showed that the expression of PTGDS was lower in the sepsis group compared to the normal group. CONCLUSION: Our study identifies PTGDS as a novel diagnostic biomarker for sepsis with potential involvement in SCM. These results highlight the potential of PTGDS as a target for future diagnostic development and mechanistic research, paving the way for improved clinical stratification of septic patients at risk of cardiac complications.