Whole-Blood Gene Expression Profiles Associated with Mortality in Community-Acquired Pneumonia

• Published in: Biomedicines Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 429
• Main Authors: Viasus, Diego, Simonetti, Antonella F, Nonell, Lara, Vidal, Oscar, Meije, Yolanda, Ortega, Lucía, Arnal, Magdalena, Bódalo-Torruella, Marta, Sierra, Montserrat, Rombauts, Alexander, Abelenda-Alonso, Gabriela, Blanchart, Gemma, Gudiol, Carlota, Carratalà, Jordi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.02.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Antibiotics; Apoptosis; Bacterial pneumonia; Biomarkers; Cdc42 protein; Community-acquired infections; community-acquired pneumonia; Endoplasmic reticulum; Gene expression; gene expression profile; Gene set enrichment analysis; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Health aspects; Hospitals; Laboratories; Medical prognosis; Mortality; Oxidative phosphorylation; Oxidative stress; Patient outcomes; Peripheral blood; Phosphorylation; Pneumonia; Prognosis; Sex hormones; Streptococcus infections; α-Interferon; Spain; United States > US; mortality; gene expression profile; gene set enrichment analysis; community-acquired pneumonia
• ISSN: 2227-9059; 2227-9059
• DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11020429

(1) Background: Information regarding gene expression profiles and the prognosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is scarce. We aimed to examine the differences in the gene expression profiles in peripheral blood at hospital admission between patients with CAP who died during hospitalization and those who survived. (2) Methods: This is a multicenter study of nonimmunosuppressed adult patients who required hospitalization for CAP. Whole blood samples were obtained within 24 h of admission for genome-expression-profile analysis. Gene expression profiling identified both differentially expressed genes and enriched gene sets. (3) Results: A total of 198 samples from adult patients who required hospitalization for CAP were processed, of which 13 were from patients who died. Comparison of gene expression between patients who died and those who survived yielded 49 differentially expressed genes, 36 of which were upregulated and 13 downregulated. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified four positively enriched gene sets in survivors, mainly associated with the interferon-alpha response, apoptosis, and sex hormone pathways. Similarly, GSEA identified seven positively enriched gene sets, associated with the oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, oxidative phosphorylation, and angiogenesis pathways, in the patients who died. Protein-protein-interaction-network analysis identified , , , , , , , and as the main gene hubs. (4) Conclusions: We found differences in gene expression profiles at hospital admission between CAP patients who died and those who survived. Our findings may help to identify novel candidate pathways and targets for potential intervention and biomarkers for risk stratification.