To explore the potential role of platelet factor 4 (PF4) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis.
PubChem and SwissTargetPrediction databases were used to collect PF4 related targets, GeneCards and DisGeNET databases were used to collect AD targets; the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by using STRING database to obtain the protein-protein interaction of common genes. Gene ontology (GO) function and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of common targets were performed using DAVID database. The VascularSingleCells database was used to query the expression of PF4 in mouse cerebrovascular-related cells, and the AlzData database was used to analyze the verification of PF4 in the data set of known AD patients.
A total of 102 PF4-related targets, 2 403 AD targets and 51 common targets were obtained. Enrichment analysis showed that the common argets were mainly involved in cancer pathways, neutrophil extracellular trap formation, Interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathway, platelet activation and relaxin signaling pathway. Analysis of cerebrovascular single cell data showed that PF4 was only expressed in microglia. The results of HPA database analysis showed that PF4 was mainly expressed in the cerebral cortex, and a small part was expressed in the amygdala.
PF4 may interfere with AD by improving neuronal viability, oxidative stress and reducing inflammatory response through neutrophil extracellular trapping network formation, IL-17 signaling and other pathways.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |