Identification and validation of candidate biomarkers associated with mitochondria and 18 types of programmed cell death in trigeminal neuralgia: insights from transcriptome sequencing.

BACKGROUND

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is relatively prevalent among the elderly population. Mitochondria-regulated programmed cell death has been identified as an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of a series of diseases; however, its role in TN remains poorly understood. This study aimed to uncover mitochondria-related genes (MRGs) and programmed cell death-related genes (PCDRGs) implicated in TN and elucidate their potential mechanisms.

METHODS

The transcriptomic data of TN were obtained from clinical datasets, while MRGs and PCDRGs were retrieved from published literature. The processed transcriptome data were subjected to differential expression analysis and intersected with MRGs and PCDRGs to identify candidate genes. Subsequently, candidate biomarkers were further screened out via machine learning, and a nomogram was constructed. Additional analyses mainly included protein structure prediction, functional enrichment analysis, regulatory network analysis, drug prediction, and immune microenvironment analysis.

RESULTS

Among the 10 candidate genes, two candidate biomarkers (BCL2A1 and DBT) were employed to build a nomogram that exhibits favorable predictive performance. The protein structures of these biomarkers were predicted using the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database, with a high level of confidence. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that these two candidate biomarkers might play a critical role in the progression of TN by regulating pathways such as "insulin signaling" and "Fc gamma R-mediated phagocytosis."

CONCLUSION

This study identified two candidate biomarkers (BCL2A1 and DBT), which are linked to mitochondria and programmed cell death in TN, and explored their application value in clinical identification, offering novel research orientations for the diagnosis and treatment of TN.