The role of mitochondria-related genes and immune infiltration in carotid atherosclerosis: identification of hub targets through bioinformatics and machine learning approaches.

Objective: Atherosclerosis (AS) is the underlying pathology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and a major cause of cardiovascular-related mortality. Chronic inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, triggered by the infiltration of various immune cells, are key factors in the progression of AS. However, the interaction and crosstalk between these factors remain unclear. Methods: Two gene expression datasets, GSE100927 and GSE43292, were downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) database, covering carotid atherosclerosis and control groups. After identifying the common differentially expressed genes (DEGs), mitochondria-related DEGs (Mito-DEGs) were obtained through Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) and machine learning approaches. Immune infiltration analysis and comparison were subsequently performed. The single-cell dataset GSE159677 further validated the expression proportions of relevant genes in different cell populations during the progression of AS. Additionally, cell-cell communication and trajectory analysis within the immune landscape were utilized to infer the pathways of cell state transitions within AS clusters. THP-1 cells were cultured Results: From the GSE100927 and GSE43292 datasets and the MitoCarta3.0 database, three hub Mito-DEGs closely associated with AS were ultimately identified: Conclusion: This study revealed the interaction between Mito-DEGs and the immune system in AS. These findings may provide new insights into therapeutic monitoring and prognosis evaluation.