Integrated bioinformatics and validation reveal PTGS2 and its related molecules to alleviate TNF-α-induced endothelial senescence

Accumulative evidences have indicated the interaction between cellular senescence and ferroptosis. This study intends to investigate the ferroptosis-related molecular markers in TNF-α-induced endothelial senescence. The microarray expression dataset (GSE195517) was used to identify the differently expressed ferroptosis-related genes (DEFRGs) through weighted gene co-expressed network analysis (WGCNA). GO and KEGG were performed to explore the biological function. Furthermore, hub genes were identified after protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis and validated through real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR). Then, a drug-gene network was established to predict potential drugs for the hub genes. Seven DEFRGs were recognized in the TNF-α-induced HUVEC senescence. Moreover, four hub genes (PTGS2, TNFAIP3, CXCL2, and IL6 are upregulated) were identified by PPI analysis and validated by RT-qPCR. Further analysis exhibited that PTGS2 was subcellularly located in the plasma membrane. Furthermore, after aminosalicylic acid (ASA) was identified as ferroptosis inhibitor for targeting PTGS2 in senescent HUVECs, 5-ASA and 4-ASA were verified to alleviate TNF-α-induced HUVEC senescence through ferroptosis. PTGS2 might play a role in TNF-α-induced HUVEC senescence and ASA may be the potential drug for alleviating TNF-α-induced HUVEC senescence through ferroptosis.