Abstract
The objective of the present study was to perform RNA sequencing and immunohistochemical analysis on skin specimens obtained from healthy individuals and individuals afflicted with prolonged skin infections. Bioinformatics methodologies were used to scrutinize the RNA sequencing data with the intention of pinpointing distinctive gene signatures associated with chronic skin infections. Skin tissue samples were collected from 11 individuals (4 subjects healthy and 7 patients with chronic skin infections) at the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University (Luzhou, China). The iDEP tool identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with log2 (fold change) ≥2 and q-value ≤0.01. Functional enrichment analysis using Gene Ontology and KEGG databases via the oebiotech online tool was then performed to determine the biological functions and pathways related to these DEGs. A protein-protein interaction network of DEGs identified HIF1A as a potential key gene. Subsequent immunohistochemistry analyses were performed on the samples to assess any variations in HIF1A expression. A total of 900 DEGs, 365 upregulated and 535 downregulated, were observed between the normal and chronic infection groups. The identified DEGs were found to serve a role in various biological processes, including 'hypoxia adaptation', 'angiogenesis', 'cell adhesion' and 'regulation of positive cell migration'. Additionally, these genes were revealed to be involved in the 'TGF-β', 'PI3K-Akt' and 'IL-17' signaling pathways. HIF1A and nine other genes were identified as central nodes in the PPI network. HIF1A expression was higher in chronically infected skin samples than in healthy samples, indicating its potential as a novel research target.