cGAS-STING pathway-related genes as candidate molecules associated with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: an exploratory bioinformatics analysis

Abstract Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), a precursor lesion of cervical cancer, requires further characterization of its molecular features to support early diagnosis and intervention. The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) pathway is central to innate immunity and has been implicated in cancer pathogenesis. This study examined the transcriptomic features of CIN from three perspectives: cGAS-STING pathway-related genes (cGSPRGs), functional enrichment, and immune infiltration, aiming to assess whether these genes are associated with CIN and to preliminarily characterize their expression patterns and possible functional relevance. By integrating the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets GSE63514 and GSE7803, we identified 3,746 preliminary differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 33 were related to the cGAS-STING pathway, including 9 key genes ( IL1B , TLR3 , IRF7 , CASP8 , RIPK2 , IKBKG , NFKBIA , IFIH1 , and AIM2 ). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses linked these genes to nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling and immune defense processes, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis highlighted their network centrality. Immune infiltration analysis revealed compositional differences between groups, particularly in naive and resting memory CD4 T cells. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that AIM2 had moderate diagnostic performance (AUC > 0.7) and may represent a candidate molecule warranting further validation. Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence that cGAS-STING-related genes may be associated with immune responses and signaling cascades during CIN progression, offering a basis for further mechanistic study and for screening candidate early diagnostic indicators of cervical cancer.