Genes involved in immune/inflammatory responses appeared to be significantly enriched in the set of genes up-regulated in different stages of PAD.
In these differentially regulated genes, immune/inflammatory genes were significantly up-regulated in different stages of PAD, (85/230 in intermediate lesions, 37/172 in advanced lesions).
As the objective of this validation study was to investigate the measurement properties of ALDS in patients with different stages of PAD, we deliberately selected patients for inclusion, instead of consecutive enrolment, to guarantee that the whole spectrum of PAD was represented in our sample.
Through literature mining and pathway analysis using different databases such as Gene Ontology (GO), and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomics (KEGG), genes involved in immune/inflammatory responses were significantly enriched in up-regulated genes at different stages of PAD(p < 0.05), revealing a significant correlation between immune/inflammatory responses and disease progression.
Interestingly, up to 37 genes involved in the immune system response, such as CCR1, CX3CR1, TLR1 and TLR7, were found to be up-regulated in advanced lesion [see Additional file 5], which might suggest that these immune/inflammatory related genes could serve as expression signatures characterizing different stages of PAD.
Gangrene is the end stage of PAD and amputation is inevitable.
Use plenty of padding around them.
In contrast, a much larger number of genes appear to be characteristically expressed in either intermediate lesions or advanced lesions, which may therefore serve as stage-specific signatures of PAD.
This indicates a transient interaction of macrophages, fibroblasts, and the stroma of the mammary fat pad during the first stage of mammary fat pad humanization, which subsequently enhances future engraftment with human breast epithelial cells.
Intermediate lesions and advanced lesions represent different stages in disease progression of PAD.
