A novel immune-related genes signature after bariatric surgery is histologically associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Increasing evidence shows that immune-related genes (IRGs) play an important role in bariatric surgery (BS). We identified differentially expressed immune-related genes (DEIRGs) of adipose tissue after BS by analysing the two expression profiles of GEO (GSE59034 and GSE29409). Subsequently, enrichment analysis, GSEA and PPI networks were examined to identify the hub IRGs and related pathways. The performance of the signature was evaluated by area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). CIBERSORT algorithm was used to evaluate the relative abundance of infiltrated immune cells.42 DEIRGs were found between the GSE59034 and GSE29409 datasets. The AUC of the signature was 0.904 and 0.865 in the GSE58979 and GSE48452, respectively. Interestingly, the signature also showed good performance in diagnosing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (AUC was 0.834 and 0.800, respectively). The number of neutrophils, macrophages M2, macrophages M0 and dendritic cells activated decreased significantly. After BS, the infiltration of T cells regulatory, monocytes, mast cells resting and plasma cells in adipose tissue increased. The novel proposed IRGs signature reveals the underlying immune mechanism of BS and is a promising biomarker for distinguishing the severity of NAFLD. This will provide new insights into strategies for treating obesity and NAFLD.