scholarly journals Integrated Protein–Protein Interaction and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis Uncover Three Key Genes in Hepatoblastoma

Author(s):  
Linlin Tian ◽  
Tong Chen ◽  
Jiaju Lu ◽  
Jianguo Yan ◽  
Yuting Zhang ◽  
...  

Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common liver tumor in the pediatric population, with typically poor outcomes for advanced-stage or chemotherapy-refractory HB patients. The objective of this study was to identify genes involved in HB pathogenesis via microarray analysis and subsequent experimental validation. We identified 856 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between HB and normal liver tissue based on two publicly available microarray datasets (GSE131329 and GSE75271) after data merging and batch effect correction. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were conducted to explore HB-related critical modules and hub genes. Subsequently, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was used to reveal critical biological functions in the initiation and progression of HB. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that genes involved in cell cycle phase transition and the PI3K/AKT signaling were associated with HB. The intersection of hub genes identified by both PPI and WGCNA analyses revealed five potential candidate genes. Based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and reports in the literature, we selected CCNA2, CDK1, and CDC20 as key genes of interest to validate experimentally. CCNA2, CDK1, or CDC20 small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown inhibited aggressive biological properties of both HepG2 and HuH-6 cell lines in vitro. In conclusion, we identified CCNA2, CDK1, and CDC20 as new potential therapeutic biomarkers for HB, providing novel insights into important and viable targets in future HB treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fu-peng Ding ◽  
Jia-yi Tian ◽  
Jing Wu ◽  
Dong-feng Han ◽  
Ding Zhao

Abstract Background Osteosarcoma (OS) metastasis is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality, however, no sufficient clinical biomarkers have been identified. In this study, we identified five genes to help predict metastasis at diagnosis. Methods We performed weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify the most relevant gene modules associated with OS metastasis. An important machine learning algorithm, the support vector machine (SVM), was employed to predict key genes for classifying the OS metastasis phenotype. Finally, we investigated the clinical significance of key genes and their enriched pathways. Results Eighteen modules were identified in WGCNA, among which the pink, red, brown, blue, and turquoise modules demonstrated good preservation. In the five modules, the brown and red modules were highly correlated with OS metastasis. Genes in the two modules closely interacted in protein–protein interaction networks and were therefore chosen for further analysis. Genes in the two modules were primarily enriched in the biological processes associated with tumorigenesis and development. Furthermore, 65 differentially expressed genes were identified as common hub genes in both WGCNA and protein–protein interaction networks. SVM classifiers with the maximum area under the curve were based on 30 and 15 genes in the brown and red modules, respectively. The clinical significance of the 45 hub genes was analyzed. Of the 45 genes, 17 were found to be significantly correlated with survival time. Finally, 5/17 genes, including ADAP2 (P = 0.0094), LCP2 (P = 0.013), ARHGAP25 (P = 0.0049), CD53 (P = 0.016), and TLR7 (P = 0.04) were significantly correlated with the metastatic phenotype. In vitro verification, western blotting, wound healing analyses, transwell invasion assays, proliferation assays, and colony formation assays indicated that ARHGAP25 promoted OS cell migration, invasion, proliferation, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Conclusion We identified five genes, namely ADAP2, LCP2, ARHGAP25, CD53, and TLR7, as candidate biomarkers for the prediction of OS metastasis; ARHGAP25 inhibits MG63 OS cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro, indicating that ARHGAP25 can serve as a promising specific and prognostic biomarker for OS metastasis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Soon Nan ◽  
Kalimuthu Karuppanan ◽  
Suresh Kumar

AbstractCOVID-19 is indeed an infection that is caused by a recently found coronavirus group, a type of virus proven to cause human respiratory diseases. The high mortality rate was observed in patients who had pre-existing health conditions like cancer. However, the molecular mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung cancer patients was not discovered yet at the pathway level. This study was about determining the common key genes of COVID-19 and lung cancer through network analysis. The hub genes associated with COVID-19 and lung cancer were identified through Protein-Protein interaction analysis. The hub genes are ALB, CXCL8, FGF2, IL6, INS, MMP2, MMP9, PTGS2, STAT3 and VEGFA. Through gene enrichment, it is identified both COVID-19 and lung cancer have a common pathway in EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, IL-17 signalling pathway, AGE-RAGE signalling pathway in diabetic complications, HIF-1 signalling pathway and pathways in cancer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Liqun Wang ◽  
Hongjia Qian ◽  
Liqun Wang

T0901317, a live X receptor agonist, can reduce amyloid β generation in vitro and in a mouse Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model. To investigate the global molecular effects of T0901317 in mouse hippocampus, we downloaded public GSE31624 generated from the hippocampus of wild-type mice, Tg2576 mice and T0901317-treated Tg2576 mice. Differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) were identified on LIMMA of R software. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment were analyzed through DAVID. Protein- protein interaction and hub genes were obtained based on STRING and Cytoscape. Nine downregulated and 68 upregulated DEGs in T0901317-treated Tg2576 were identified in comparison with untreated Tg2576 mice. Annotation analyses showed these DEGs correlated with transport (BP), membrane (CC) and binding (MF) terms and the dopaminergic synapse pathway. Protein-protein interaction network was built to find out some hub genes by maximal clique centrality. Discs large homolog 4 (Dlg4), the most outstanding gene, was associated with cognition improvement in aged AD mice. T0901317 may impact the development by regulating the Dlg4 expression. In conclusion, we investigated effects of T0901317 therapy on gene expression profiles in the hippocampus of Tg2576 mice and found Dlg4 may serve as putative therapeutics target for AD treatment.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Xu ◽  
Xiaoning Li ◽  
Sha Wu ◽  
Min Yang

Abstract Background: To provide theoretical basis for the molecular mechanism of the development of diabetic nephropathy and targeted molecular therapy by screening expressed genes based on bioinformatic analysis. Methods: We analyzed diabetic nephropathy microarray datasets derived from GEO database. Perl and R programming packages were used for data processing and analysis and for drawing. STRING online database and Cytoscape software were utilized for protein-protein interaction network analysis and screened for hub genes. Also, WebGestalt was used to analyze the relationship between genes and microRNAs. Nephroseq online tool was used to visualize the correlation between genes and clinical properties.Results: We found 91 differentially expressed genes between diabetic nephropathy tissues and normal control tissues. Protein-protein interaction network analysis screened out 5 key modules and a total of 14 hub genes were identified by integration, also11 microRNAs were associated with hub genes. Especially mir29 could regulate COL6A3 and COL15A1.Conclusions: The internal biological information in diabetic nephropathy can be revealed by integrative bioinformatical analysis, providing theoretical basis for further research on molecular mechanism and potential targets for diagnosis and therapeutics of diabetic nephropathy.


2022 ◽  
Vol 2022 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Xianglan Li ◽  
Rihua Jiang ◽  
Haiguo Jin ◽  
Zhehao Huang

Background. Keloid is a benign dermal tumor characterized by abnormal proliferation and invasion of fibroblasts. The establishment of biomarkers is essential for the diagnosis and treatment of keloids. Methods. We systematically identified coexpression modules using the weighted gene coexpression network analysis method (WGCNA). Differential expressed genes (DEGs) in GSE145725 and genes in significant modules were integrated to identify overlapping key genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were then performed, as well as protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction for hub gene screening. Results. Using the R package of WGCNA, 22 coexpression modules consisting of different genes were identified from the top 5,000 genes with maximum mean absolute deviation in 19 human fibroblast samples. Blue-green and yellow modules were identified as the most important modules, where genes overlapping with DEGs were identified as key genes. We identified the most critical functions and pathways as extracellular structure organization, vascular smooth muscle contraction, and the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway. Hub genes from key genes as BMP4, MSX1, HAND2, TBX2, SIX1, IRX1, EDN1, DLX5, MEF2C, and DLX2 were identified. Conclusion. The blue-green and yellow modules may play an important role in the pathogenesis of keloid. 10 hub genes were identified as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for keloid.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Guo ◽  
Hongxia Li ◽  
Weiying Li ◽  
Junfang Tang

Abstract Hypoxia and stemness are important factors in tumor progression. We aimed to explore the ncRNA classifier associated with hypoxia and stemness in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We found that the prognosis of LUAD patients with high hypoxia and stemness index was worse than that of patients with low hypoxia and stemness index. RNA expression profiles of these two clusters were analyzed, and 6867 differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs were screened. Functional analysis showed that DE mRNAs were associated with cell cycle and DNA replication. Protein–protein interaction network analysis revealed 20 hub genes, among which CENPF, BUB1, BUB1B, KIF23 and TTK had significant influence on prognosis. In addition, 807 DE lncRNAs and 243 DE miRNAs were identified. CeRNA network analysis indicated that AC079160.1-miR-539-5p-CENPF may be an important regulatory axis that potentially regulates the progression of LUAD. The expression of AC079160.1 and CENPF were positively correlated with hypoxia and stemness index, while miR-539-5p expression level was negatively correlated with hypoxia and stemness index. Overall, we identified CENPF, BUB1, BUB1B, KIF23 and TTK as potentially key genes involved in regulating hypoxia-induced tumor cell stemness, and found that AC079160.1-miR-539-5p-CENPF axis may be involved in regulating hypoxia induced tumor cell stemness in LUAD.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. S20-S21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akram Safaei ◽  
Mostafa Rezaei Tavirani ◽  
Mona Zamanian Azodi ◽  
Alireza Lashay ◽  
Seyed Farzad Mohammadi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6505
Author(s):  
Jishizhan Chen ◽  
Jia Hua ◽  
Wenhui Song

Applying mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), together with the distraction osteogenesis (DO) process, displayed enhanced bone quality and shorter treatment periods. The DO guides the differentiation of MSCs by providing mechanical clues. However, the underlying key genes and pathways are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to screen and identify hub genes involved in distraction-induced osteogenesis of MSCs and potential molecular mechanisms. Material and Methods: The datasets were downloaded from the ArrayExpress database. Three samples of negative control and two samples subjected to 5% cyclic sinusoidal distraction at 0.25 Hz for 6 h were selected for screening differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and then analysed via bioinformatics methods. The Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment were investigated. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was visualised through the Cytoscape software. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted to verify the enrichment of a self-defined osteogenic gene sets collection and identify osteogenic hub genes. Results: Three hub genes (IL6, MMP2, and EP300) that were highly associated with distraction-induced osteogenesis of MSCs were identified via the Venn diagram. These hub genes could provide a new understanding of distraction-induced osteogenic differentiation of MSCs and serve as potential gene targets for optimising DO via targeted therapies.


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