ITGB5 is highly expressed in ischemic stroke and cerebrovascular dementia to induce disease progression

Background Ischemic stroke refers to hemiplegia and consciousness disorders caused by cerebral infarction or cerebral thrombosis. Vascular dementia (VaD) is a dementia syndrome characterized by progressive cognitive decline due to brain tissue damage caused by cerebrovascular disease. The role of the ITGB5 gene in ischemic stroke and vascular dementia remains unclear. Methods Ischemic stroke dataset GSE16561 and vascular dementia dataset GSE122063 profiles were downloaded from gene expression omnibus (GEO) database generated from GPL6883 and GPL16699. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs), functional enrichment analysis, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), immune infiltration analysis, construction and analysis of Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) networks were conducted. Heatmaps of gene expression levels were plotted. Core genes were input into comparative toxicogenomics database (CTD) website to find diseases most related to them. Results 892 DEGs were identified. According to gene ontology (GO) analysis, in biological process (BP) analysis, they mainly enriched in regulation of cell apoptosis, inflammatory response, neuronal projection regeneration, angiogenesis, and vascular smooth muscle contraction. In cellular component (CC) analysis, they mainly enriched in synapse and neuronal cell body. In molecular function (MF) analysis, they mainly focused on vascular endothelial growth factor and neurotransmitter transporter activity. In Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, they mainly enriched in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, cell apoptosis, Jak-STAT signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and cell cycle. GSEA showed that DSEGs mainly enriched in inflammatory response, neuronal projection regeneration, synapse, vascular endothelial growth factor, Jak-STAT signaling pathway, cell apoptosis, calcium signaling pathway, and cell cycle. WGCNA with a soft threshold power of 2 generated 13 modules. 142 DEGs were obtained for PPI construction and analysis. Finally, 2 core genes (TLR4, ITGB5) were identified. Heatmaps of core gene expression levels revealed high expression of TLR4 and ITGB5 in samples of ischemic stroke and vascular dementia. CTD analysis found that TLR4, ITGB5 are associated with hypertension, myocardial infarction, vascular dementia, ischemic stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular diseases. Conclusion ITGB5 is highly expressed in ischemic stroke and vascular dementia, suggesting it could serve as a therapeutic target for these diseases.