Mitophagy plays significant roles in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study aimed to screen and validate mitophagy‑related genes in COPD by using bioinformatic analysis and experimental validation. The original data were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus datasets and 29 mitophagy‑related genes sets were acquired from the Molecular Signatures Database. The differentially expressed mitophagy‑related genes (DEMRGs) were screened using the Wilcoxon test. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis were conducted for the identification of DEMRGs. In addition, clustering analysis was used to assess the differential expression characteristics of DEMRGs in patients with COPD. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis was performed to identify signature genes with COPD diagnostic significance
these genes were validated using the test dataset. In addition, the degree of infiltration of 28 immune cells in COPD and control samples was assessed. Finally, cigarette smoke extract (CSE)‑treated bronchial epithelial cells were employed to verify the role of signature genes in regulating mitophagy