STAT1 and CXCL10 involve in M1 macrophage polarization that may affect osteolysis and bone remodeling in extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Objective This study was aimed to reveal the molecular mechanism of bone destruction due to macrophage polarization leading to during extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) infection. Methods The dataset GSE83456 was downloaded from the GEO database, and the xCell tool was used to obtain the 64 types of immune cells. The flow cytometry was performed to identified the differences between M1 and M2 macrophages between EPTB and the healthy controls (HCs). The enrichment analyses were performed on the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and their functionally related modules. The hub genes were screened out, and their relationships with EPTB and the immune cell subtypes were further analyzed. Results The flow cytometric analysis validated this hypothesis of M1-macrophage polarization correlated with the pathogenesis of EPTB. Of the obtained 103 DEGs, 97 genes were upregulated, and 6 genes were downregulated. The GO and KEGG pathway analyses showed that the DEGs were particularly involved in the immune-related processes. The hub genes (STAT1 and CXCL10) might be involved in M1-macrophage polarization and correlated with the pathogenesis of EPTB. STAT1 and CXCL10 could also behave as biomarkers for EPTB. Conclusion STAT1 and CXCL10 were involved in the M1-macrophage polarization and correlated with the pathogenesis of EPTB. Besides, both of them could also behave as biomarkers for EPTB diagnosis and provide the required clues for targeted therapy in the future.