Gene set enrichment analysis (GESA) showed that ribosome, proteasome, systemic lupus erythematosus, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, IL-17 signaling pathway and staphylococcus aureus infection were the top 6 significant upregulated signaling pathways of the DEGs between calculi rat and control (Additional file 3: Fig. S3A). Here, IL17A is linked to staphylococcus aureus infection.