Identification and Analysis of Key Genes Associated with Ulcerative Colitis by Integrated Bioinformatics Methods
Abstract Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a prevalent inflammatory bowel disease of the colonic mucosa. The exact mechanism of the disease still remains unclear. Here we tried to explore new biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in UC through adopting integrated bioinformatics tools.Results: By performing DEGs analysis, 59 upregulated and 39 downregulated DEGs were successfully identified from GSE3365, respectively. And they were mainly enriched in the terms of Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction,Viral protein interaction with cytokine and cytokine receptor,Pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis,IL-17 signaling pathway and Chemokine signaling pathway. Based on the data of protein–protein interaction (PPI), the top 10 hub genes were ranked, including Growth-regulated alpha protein (CXCL1), C-C motif chemokine 2 (CCL2), C-X-C chemokine receptor type 1 (CXCR1), Low affinity immunoglobulin gamma Fc region receptor III-B (FCGR3B), C-X-C chemokine receptor type 2 (CXCR2), Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 (PTGS2), Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM1), Interleukin-1 receptor type 1 (IL1R1), fMet-Leu-Phe receptor (FPR1), and Band 3 anion transport protein (SLC4A1).What’s more, the results of correlation analysis demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between the 10 hub DEGs.Conclusion: Ten DEGs were identified as potential candidate diagnostic biomarkers for patients with UC in present study. However, further experiments are needed to confirm the functional pathways and hub genes associated with UC.