Identification of potential biological processes and key genes in diabetes-related stroke through weighted gene co-expression network analysis

Abstract Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an established risk factor for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Although there are reports on the correlation of diabetes and stroke, data on its pathogenesis is limited. This study aimed to explore the underlying biological mechanisms and promising intervention targets of diabetes-related stroke. Methods Diabetes-related datasets (GSE38642 and GSE44035) and stroke-related datasets (GSE16561 and GSE22255) were obtained from the Gene Expression omnibus (GEO) database. The key modules for stroke and diabetes were identified by weight gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) analyses were employed in the key module. Genes in stroke- and diabetes-related key modules were intersected to obtain common genes for T2DM-related stroke. In order to discover the key genes in T2DM-related stroke, the Cytoscape and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network were constructed. The key genes were functionally annotated in the Reactome database. Results By intersecting the diabetes- and stroke-related crucial modules, 24 common genes for T2DM-related stroke were identified. Metascape showed that neutrophil extracellular trap formation was primarily enriched. The hub gene was granulin precursor ( GRN ), which had the highest connectivity among the common genes. In addition, functional enrichment analysis indicated that GRN was involved in neutrophil degranulation, thus regulating neutrophil extracellular trap formation. Conclusions This study firstly revealed that neutrophil extracellular trap formation may represent the common biological processes of diabetes and stroke, and GRN may be potential intervention targets for T2DM-related stroke.