CITED2: a novel hub gene downregulated in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and associated with M1 macrophages via bioinformatics analysis and clinical validation - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #M1 macrophages
- #CITED2
- #Hashimoto's thyroiditis
- Identified CITED2 as a novel hub gene downregulated in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT).
- Found a core set of 1,752 HT-specific differentially expressed genes (DEGs), narrowed down to 5 up-regulated and 10 down-regulated hub genes.
- Observed a significant increase in M1 macrophages in HT tissues, with IFNG mRNA positively correlating and CITED2 mRNA negatively correlating with M1 abundance.
- Clinical validation confirmed IFNG upregulation and CITED2 downregulation at mRNA and protein levels in HT tissues.
- Immunohistochemistry showed weakened CITED2 expression in thyroid follicular cells (TFCs) from HT patients.
- M1 macrophage markers (CD80/CD86) were elevated and correlated with autoantibody levels and IFNG mRNA, but inversely with CITED2.
- Suggests CITED2 suppression may disrupt TFC function and contribute to HT's pro-inflammatory immune microenvironment.