In our study, biological process associated to cell death, such as regulation of cell death, regulation of apoptotic process, programmed cell death and regulation of programmed cell death (Additional file 3) grouped ADA, AGT, CEBPB, G0S2, IRF1, JAK2, OSGIN1, P2RX7 and PDK4 genes that were upregulated in FHS-affected broilers, while ADIPOQ, AIFM2, CRIP1, CTSD, GLI2, HSPB1, SFRP1 and THBS1 were downregulated. Here, P2RX7 is linked to Floating-Harbor syndrome.