Aim:We aimed to explore diagnostic biomarkers of postmenopausal osteoporosis
(PMOP).Background:PMOP brings enormous physical and economic burden to elderly women.Methods:Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to
identify osteoporosis-related hub genes. Single-cell transcriptomic atlas of osteoporosis
was depicted and the heterogeneity of monocytes was analyzed, based on which the biomarkers
for osteoporosis were screened. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted
on the biomarkers. The diagnostic model (nomogram) was established and evaluated
based on the expression levels of biomarkers. Additionally, the transcription factor
(TF) regulatory network was constructed to predict the potential TF and targeted miRNA
of biomarkers. The drugs with significant correlation with biomarkers were identified
by Spearman correlation analysis.Results:We obtained 30 osteoporosis-associated hub genes. 9 cell types were identified,
and the monocytes were subdivided to 4 subtypes. Three biomarkers, DHX29, LSM5,
and UBE2V2, were screened. DHX29 and UBE2V2 were highly expressed in non-classical
monocytes, while LSM5 exhibited the highest expression in other monocytes, followed
by non-classical monocytes. GSEA indicated that osteoporosis may be correlated
with vascular calcification and the biomarkers may be involved in the formation of immune
cells. Then, nomogram was constructed and exhibited good robustness. In addition,
MYC and SETDB1 were the shared IF in three biomarkers, which may play critical
regulatory roles in the progression of osteoporosis. Moreover, 41, 49, and 68 drugs
appeared significant correlations with DHX29, LSM5, and UBE2V2, respectively.Conclusion:This study provided a basis for early diagnosis and targeted treatment of osteoporosis.conclusion:In a word, DHX29, LSM5, and UBE2V2 were identified as the candidate biomarkers, which provided a basis for early diagnosis and targeted treatment of osteoporosis.