VEGFA and Sepsis: Shared DEGs mediate core inflammatory/metabolic processes (e.g., acute-phase response, neutrophil chemotaxis; Figure 4D), whereas CLP-specific DEGs (e.g., NLRP3, CASP1, VEGFA) enrich apoptosis/angiogenesis pathways (Figure 4E), recapitulating polymicrobial sepsis complexity via inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis and vascular remodeling (29).