Transcriptomics confirms IRF1 as a key regulator of pyroptosis in diabetic retinopathy

This study aimed to establish an in vitro model of diabetic retinopathy by culturing human retinal endothelial cells (HREC) with high glucose (30 mmol/L), and to detect their transcriptome expression by RNA-seq, screen for key genes related to pyroptosis, and validate the sequencing results by subsequent experiments.METHODS: We used RNA-seq to detect the transcriptome expression differences between HREC cells cultured with high glucose and control group, and identified differentially expressed genes by GO/KEGG analysis. We constructed a PPI network and determined the key genes by Cytoscape software and CytoHubba plugin. We validated the expression of related factors by Western Blot, qPCR and ELISA.RESULTS: We performed GO and KEGG analysis on the RNA-seq data and found differentially expressed genes. We used Cytoscape and CytoHubba plugin to screen out IRF1 as the key gene, and then detected the expression of IRF1 in HREC under high glucose and control group by Western Blot and qPCR. We found that the expression of Caspase-1, GSDMD and IL-1β proteins in HREC under high glucose increased, while the expression of these proteins decreased after the inhibition of IRF1 by siRNA. ELISA showed that the secretion of IL-1β in HREC under high glucose increased, while the inhibition of IRF1 reduced the secretion of IL-1β. These results indicate that IRF1 plays an important role in DR, and provides a new target and strategy for the prevention and treatment of this disease.PMID:3855460...
Source: Biochemical and Biophysical Research communications - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Source Type: research