Immunological profile of lactylation-related genes in Crohn’s disease: a comprehensive analysis based on bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing data

Abstract Background Crohn's disease (CD) is a disease characterized by intestinal immune dysfunction, often accompanied by metabolic abnormalities. Disturbances in lactate metabolism have been found in the intestine of patients with CD, but studies on the role of lactate and related Lactylation in the pathogenesis of CD are still unknown. Methods We identified the core genes associated with Lactylation by downloading and merging three CD-related datasets (GSE16879, GSE75214, and GSE112366) from the GEO database, and analyzed the functions associated with the hub genes and the correlation between their expression levels and immune infiltration through comprehensive analysis. We explored the Lactylation levels of different immune cells using single-cell data and further analyzed the differences in Lactylation levels between inflammatory and non-inflammatory sites. Results We identified six Lactylation-related hub genes that are highly associated with CD. Further analysis revealed that these six hub genes were highly correlated with the level of immune cell infiltration. To further clarify the effect of Lactylation on immune cells, we analyzed single-cell sequencing data of immune cells from inflammatory and non-inflammatory sites in CD patients and found that there were significant differences in the levels of Lactylation between different types of immune cells, and that the levels of Lactylation were significantly higher in immune cells from inflammatory sites. Conclusions These results suggest that Lactylation-related genes and their functions are closely associated with changes in inflammatory cells in CD patients.