Fig. 1

Identification of key basement membrane-related genes in diabetic nephropathy glomerulus and tubulointerstitium. A Merging, standardization, and batch effect removal of GSE104948 and GSE96804 datasets. The merged dataset includes 53 DN glomerulus and 41 normal control samples. B Merging, standardization, and batch effect removal of GSE104954, GSE30529, and GSE47184 datasets. The merged dataset contains 38 DN tubulointerstitium and 37 normal control samples. C, D Generation of volcano plots of DEGs in DN glomerulus and tubulointerstitium. Genes with an adjusted p value less than 0.05 were deemed differentially expressed. E Optimization of the soft threshold β, set to 7. F Hierarchical clustering of GSE104948 and GSE96804 samples based on gene expression levels. G Identification of co-expression modules in DN glomerulus with the following parameters: minimum module size: 30; sensitivity: 3; module merge threshold: 0.25. H Correlation between the 15 identified co-expression modules and DN (glomerular group). Four modules (magenta, pink, red, and cyan) showed the highest DN correlation. I-L Scatter plots illustrating correlation between genes (module membership) in the top four modules and DN (glomerular group). M, N Intersection of DEGs, genes screened by WGCNA, and BMRGs in both DN glomerular and tubulointerstitial groups. O GO enrichment analysis of intersected genes in DN glomerulus and tubulointerstitium