CTSB and thromboangiitis obliterans: In our study, six ferroptosis driver genes (CYBB, CTSB, SLC38A1, TLR4, PEX2 and ABCC1) were identified and all of them exhibited relatively low expression levels in orbital tissues of TAO patients, except for SLC38A1. This result implied that ferroptosis might be suppressed in the pathogenesis of TAO.