BackgroundN6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is a critical epigenetic modification in eukaryotes and involves several biological processes and occurrences of diseases. However, the roles and regulatory mechanisms of m6A regulators in osteoporosis (OP) remain unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the roles and mechanisms of m6A regulators in OP.MethodsThe mRNA and microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles were respectively obtained from GSE56815, GSE7158, and GSE93883 datasets in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The differential expression of 21 m6A regulators between high-bone mineral density (BMD) and low-BMD women was identified. Then, a consensus clustering of low-BMD women was performed based on differentially expressed (DE)-m6A regulators. The m6A-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs), the differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNAs), and biological functions were investigated. Moreover, a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was constructed to identify the OP-related hub modules, hub genes, and the functional pathways. Then, an m6A regulator–target–pathway network and the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network in key modules were constructed. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operation (LASSO) Cox regression model and a Support Vector Machine-Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE) model were constructed to identify the candidate genes for OP prediction. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to validate the performances of predictive models and candidate genes.ResultsA total of 10,520 DEGs, 13 DE-m6A regulators, and 506 DE-miRNAs between high-BMD and low-BMD women were identified. Two m6A-related subclusters with 13 DE-m6A regulators were classified for OP. There were 5,260 m6A-related DEGs identified between two m6A-related subclusters, the PI3K-Akt, MAPK, and immune-related pathways, and bone metabolism was mainly enriched in cluster 2. Cell cycle-related pathways, RNA methylation, and cell death-related pathways were significantly involved in cluster 1. Five modules were identified as key modules based on WGCNA, and an m6A regulator–target gene–pathway network and the ceRNA network were constructed in module brown. Moreover, three m6A regulators (FTO, YTHDF2, and CBLL1) were selected as the candidate genes for OP.ConclusionM6A regulators play an important role in the occurrences and diagnosis of OP.

Background: Osteoporosis (OP) is a serious and common bone metabolic disease with bone mass loss and bone microarchitectural deterioration. The OSTEOWONDER capsule is clinically used to treat OP. However, the potential regulatory mechanism of the OSTEOWONDER capsule in treatment of OP remains largely unknown.Methods: The bioactive compounds of herbs and their targets were identified using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) database. The speculative targets of OP were screened out based on GeneCards, DisGeNET, and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) databases. The gene modules and hub genes of OP were identified using a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Then, an herb-compound-target network was constructed based on the above analyses. The biological function of targets was subsequently investigated, and a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed to identify hub targets of OP. Finally, molecular docking was performed to explore the interaction between compounds and targets.Results: A total of 148 compounds of eight herbs and the corresponding 273 targets were identified based on the TCMSP database. A total of 4,929 targets of OP were obtained based on GeneCards, DisGeNET, and OMIM databases. In addition, six gene modules and 4,235 hub genes of OP were screened out based on WGCNA. Generally, an herb-compound-target network, including eight herbs, 84 compounds, and 58 targets, was constructed to investigate the therapeutic mechanism of the OSTEOWONDER capsule for OP. The biofunction analysis indicated 58 targets mainly associated with the bone metabolism, stimulation response, and immune response. EGFR, HIF1A, MAPK8, IL6, and PPARG were identified as the hub therapeutic targets in OP. Moreover, the interaction between EGFR, HIF1A, MAPK8, IL6, PPARG, and the corresponding compounds (quercetin and nobiletin) was analyzed using molecular docking.Conclusion: Our finding discovered the possible therapeutic mechanisms of the OSTEOWONDER capsule and supplied the potential therapeutic targets for OP.