Background This study aims to identify potential biomarkers associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) post kidney transplantation. Material and Methods Two mRNA expression profiles from Gene Expression Omnibus repertory were downloaded, including 20 delayed graft function (DGF) and 68 immediate graft function (IGF) samples. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between DGF and IGF group. The Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis of DEGs were performed. Then, a protein-protein interaction analysis was performed to extract hub genes. The key genes were searched by literature retrieval and cross-validated based on the training dataset. An external dataset was used to validate the expression levels of key genes. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to evaluate diagnostic performance of key genes for AKI. Results A total of 330 DEGs were identified between DGF and IGF samples, including 179 up-regulated and 151 down-regulated genes. Of these, OLIG3, EBF3 and ETV1 were transcription factor genes. Moreover, LEP, EIF4A3, WDR3, MC4R, PPP2CB, DDX21 and GPT served as hub genes in PPI network. EBF3 was significantly up-regulated in validation GSE139061 dataset, which was consistently with our initial gene differential expression analysis. Finally, we found that LEP had a great diagnostic value for AKI (AUC = 0.740). Conclusion EBF3 may be associated with the development of AKI following kidney transplantation. Furthermore, LEP had a good diagnostic value for AKI. These findings provide deeper insights into the diagnosis and management of AKI post renal transplantation.

中文翻译：

---

mRNA 景观分析揭示了与肾移植后急性肾损伤 AKI 相关的潜在生物标志物

背景 本研究旨在确定与肾移植后急性肾损伤 (AKI) 相关的潜在生物标志物。材料和方法 下载了来自 Gene Expression Omnibus 库的两个 mRNA 表达谱，包括 20 个延迟移植功能 (DGF) 和 68 个即时移植功能 (IGF) 样本。在 DGF 和 IGF 组之间鉴定了差异表达基因 (DEG)。进行了基因本体论和京都基因百科全书和基因组通路分析。然后，进行蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用分析以提取中心基因。通过文献检索搜索关键基因，并基于训练数据集进行交叉验证。外部数据集用于验证关键基因的表达水平。进行受试者工作特征曲线分析以评估 AKI 关键基因的诊断性能。结果在DGF和IGF样本之间共鉴定出330个DEGs，其中上调基因179个，下调基因151个。其中，OLIG3、EBF3和ETV1是转录因子基因。此外，LEP、EIF4A3、WDR3、MC4R、PPP2CB、DDX21 和 GPT 是 PPI 网络中的枢纽基因。EBF3 在验证 GSE139061 数据集中显着上调，这与我们最初的基因差异表达分析一致。最后，我们发现 LEP 对 AKI 有很大的诊断价值（AUC = 0.740）。结论 EBF3可能与肾移植后AKI的发生有关。此外，LEP 对 AKI 有很好的诊断价值。