Unveiling the glycolysis in sepsis: Integrated bioinformatics and machine learning analysis identifies crucial roles for IER3, DSC2, and PPARG in disease pathogenesis

Sepsis, a multifaceted syndrome driven by an imbalanced host response to infection, remains a significant medical challenge. At its core lies the pivotal role of glycolysis, orchestrating immune responses especially in severe sepsis. The intertwined dynamics between glycolysis, sepsis, and immunity, however, have gaps in knowledge with several Crucial genes still shrouded in ambiguity. We harvested transcriptomic profiles from the peripheral blood of 107 septic patients juxtaposed against 29 healthy controls. Delving into this dataset, differential expression analysis shed light on genes distinctly linked to glycolysis in both cohorts. Harnessing the prowess of LASSO regression and SVM-RFE, we isolated Crucial genes, paving the way for a sepsis risk prediction model, subsequently vetted via Calibration and decision curve analysis. Using the CIBERSORT algorithm, we further mapped 22 immune cell subtypes within the septic samples, establishing potential interactions with the delineated Crucial genes. Our efforts unveiled 21 genes intricately tied to glycolysis that exhibited differential expression patterns. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses offered insights, spotlighting pathways predominantly associated with oxidative phosphorylation, PPAR signaling pathway, Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis and HIF-1 signaling pathway. Among the myriad genes, IER3, DSC2, and PPARG emerged as linchpins, their prominence in sepsis further validated through ROC analytics. These sentinel genes demonstrated profound affiliations with various immune cell facets, bridging the complex terrain of glycolysis, sepsis, and immune responses. In line with our endeavor to "unveil the glycolysis in sepsis," the discovery of IER3, DSC2, and PPARG reinforces their cardinal roles in sepsis pathogenesis. These revelations accentuate the intricate dance between glycolysis and immunological shifts in septic conditions, offering novel avenues for therapeutic interventions.