by Guiqin Bai, Xuerong Zhou, Cheng Xiong, Xi Kang, Ruiqi Huang, Dazhang Bai, Peilin Zhao, Tao Peng, Cheer Muer, Guohui Jiang, Shushan Zhang Depression frequently cooccurs with epilepsy (EP) and has become a focus of clinical management, but effective pharmacological interventions remain limited. In this study, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data were analyzed to identify changes in oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in EP and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, and intercellular communication and trajectory analyses were performed.
Key therapeutic targets and pathways were identified via differentially expressed genes (DEGs), protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, and gene ontology (GO) enrichment. A connectivity map (CMap) was generated to identify optimal drugs.
Molecular dynamics simulation (MDs) and cell thermal stability migration assay (CETSA) were conducted to evaluate protein-drug interactions. The results revealed significant changes in gene expression in OPCs, with neuroligin3 (NLGN3)-neurexin (NRXN) signaling being the main pathway involved.
Three hub genes correlated with NLGN3 were enriched in oxidative phosphorylation and mTORC1 signaling.
PLOS ONE (Medicine) published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 22 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Single-cell multiomics data analysis of potential receptors and therapeutic drugs for epilepsy patients comorbid with depression.
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