scholarly journals Genomic Expression Profiling of Colorectal Cancer in Silico

Author(s):  
Feifei Liu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Wenxue Li ◽  
Diancheng Li ◽  
Yuwei Xin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies of the digestive system; the progression and prognosis of which are affected by a complicated network of genes and pathways. The aim of this study was to identify potential hub genes associated with the progression and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC).Methods: We obtained gene expression profiles from GEO database to search differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CRC tissues and normal tissue. Subsequently, we conducted a functional enrichment analysis, generated a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network to identify the hub genes, and analyzed the expression validation of the hub genes. Kaplan–Meier plotter survival analysis tool was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of hub genes expression in CRC patients.Results: A total of 370 samples, involving CRC and normal tissues were enrolled in this article. 283 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 62 upregulated genes and 221 downregulated genes between CRC and normal tissues were selected. We finally filtered out 6 hub genes, including INSL5, MTIM, GCG, SPP1, HSD11B2, and MAOB. In the database of TCGA-COAD, the mRNA expression of INSL5, MT1M, HSD11B2, MAOB in tumor is lower than that in normal; the mRNA expression of SPP1 in tumor is higher than that in normal. In the HPA database, the expression of INSL5, GCG, HSD11B2, MAOB in tumor is lower than that in normal tissues; the expression of SPP1 in the tumor is higher than that in normal tissues. Survival analysis revealed that INSL5, GCG, SPP1 and MT1M may serve as prognostic biomarkers in CRC. Conclusions: We screened out six hub genes to predict the occurrence and prognosis of patients with CRC using bioinformatics methods, which may provide new targets and ideas for diagnosis, prognosis and individualized treatment for CRC.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Zhang ◽  
Bingye Zhang ◽  
Di Meng ◽  
Chunlin Ge

Abstract Background The incidence of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) has risen in recent years, and it has become a significant health burden worldwide. However, the mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis and progression of this disease remain largely unknown. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated crucial biological functions of epigenetic modifications, especially DNA methylation, in CCA. The present study aimed to identify and analyze methylation-regulated differentially expressed genes (MeDEGs) involved in CCA tumorigenesis and progression by bioinformatics analysis. Methods The gene expression profiling dataset (GSE119336) and gene methylation profiling dataset (GSE38860) were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially methylated genes (DMGs) were identified using the limma packages of R and GEO2R, respectively. The MeDEGs were obtained by overlapping the DEGs and DMGs. Functional enrichment analyses of these genes were then carried out. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed using STRING and visualized in Cytoscape to determine hub genes. Finally, the results were verified based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Results We identified 98 hypermethylated, downregulated genes and 93 hypomethylated, upregulated genes after overlapping the DEGs and DMGs. These genes were mainly enriched in the biological processes of the cell cycle, nuclear division, xenobiotic metabolism, drug catabolism, and negative regulation of proteolysis. The top nine hub genes of the PPI network were F2, AHSG, RRM2, AURKB, CCNA2, TOP2A, BIRC5, PLK1, and ASPM. Moreover, the expression and methylation status of the hub genes were significantly altered in TCGA. Conclusions Our study identified novel methylation-regulated differentially expressed genes (MeDEGs) and explored their related pathways and functions in CCA, which may provide novel insights into a further understanding of methylation-mediated regulatory mechanisms in CCA.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yili Ren ◽  
Beibei Zhang ◽  
Chenkai Xu ◽  
Lei Zhang

Abstract Background and purpose: Gastric cancer is a type of highly heterogeneous malignant tumor and the prognosis of gastric cancer is hard to be improved due to limited knowledge on the molecular mechanism of heterogeneity. Single-cell sequencing technology is recently widely used for the investigation of both inter-tumoral heterogeneity and intra-tumoral heterogeneity. The present study aims to explore the potential oncogene by analyzing the single-cell data in the GSE167297 dataset.Methods: The GSE167297 dataset was downloaded from the GEO database, followed by quality control to remove data with lower quality. The division on cell subtypes was determined by the characteristic marker expressed in each cell subpopulation. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to screen out differentially expressed genes. Survival analysis was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of G-protein subunit g 11 (GNG11) gene which was significantly overexpressed in deep tumor tissues of diffuse gastric cancer.Results: In both normal tissues and tumor tissues, subtypes of immune cells and stromal cells were identified, with a higher proportion of infiltrated macrophages observed in deep tumor tissues. EPCAM was found significantly highly expressed in a cell subpopulation from gastric tumor tissues. 515 differentially expressed genes (| log2FC | > 2 and FDR < 1e-5) were screened out between normal tissues and tumor tissues. 86 differentially expressed genes (| log2FC | > 1 and FDR < 0.01) were screened out between superficial and deep tumor tissues, in which GNG11 was most highly expressed in deep tumor tissues (mean expression value: 0.1247, FC value: 52.2109). Disease-specific survival analysis on GNG11 results showed that the HR [95%CI] in the constructed univariate Cox proportional risk model was 4.419 [1.399-13.96] and the P-value in the log-rank test was 0.0056.Conclusion: Differentially expression profiles were provided both extratumorally and intratumorally, indicating a higher infiltration of macrophages in deep tumor tissues. Additionally,GNG11 was screened out to be a significant risk factor in STAD patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Jamal ◽  
Abdul Saboor Khan ◽  
Hina Iqbal Bangash ◽  
Tian Xie ◽  
Tianbao Song ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Lung cancer (LUCA) is the leading cause of cancer-related morbidities and mortalities globally. Despite the recent advancements in lung cancer research, understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying LUCA tumorigenesis and prognosis remains suboptimal. This study aims to identify the candidate biomarkers and therapeutic genes in lung cancer. Methods In this study, gene expression profiles of GSE30219, GSE33532, GSE32863 and GSE43458 were downloaded from GEO. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in LUAD tissue and normal lung tissue with a p-value < 0.05 and a |log fold change (FC)| >1.0 were identified by GEO2R. For functional enrichment analysis of these DEGs, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed with KOBAS and DAVID tools. Next, the candidate hub genes were filtered out with Cytoscape using CytoHubba plugin. These hub genes were validated by (the Cancer Genome Atlas) TCGA-based gene expression analysis, protein-protein network interaction (PPI) analysis, survival analysis. Moreover, the expression of these genes in cancer and normal tissue was assessed in the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. In addition, miRNA network of the hub genes was constructed. Finally, DGIdb database was used to check the drug-targeting potentials of the hub genes. Results a total of 332 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) including 73 upregulated and 259 downregulated, respectively were identified. GO analysis revealed that the DEGs were principally regulating various cancer-associated functions and pathways. The module analysis revealed 55 hub genes in 4 modules. The survival analysis through Kaplan-Meier (KM) plotter indicated that the altered expression of these genes resulted in the poor overall survival (OS) of LUCA patients. Moreover, these genes show a differential expression on both protein and mRNA level in cancer patient compared to the normal. In addition, in addition, 6 potential microRNAs (miRNAs) interacting with hub genes were identified. Finally, a list of 117 therapeutic small molecules was tabulated that could facilitate LUCA treatment. Conclusions the findings of this study may help in the development of novel and reliable biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic intervention for LUAD.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongrong Xiao ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Tian Xia ◽  
Chun-Yi Li ◽  
Ting Jiang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Tumor microenvironment plays important roles in the development of cancer. The aim of our study was to examine the expression of genes in colorectal cancer and also to evaluate the association value between expression level of these genes and clinical features. Methods We combined The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets to identify differentially expressed genes in colon cancer. Using these differentially expressed genes, we constructed protein-protein interaction network and conducted functional enrichment analysis. Genes with degree beyond 10 in the PPI network were regarded as hub genes. Then, we verified of the expression of molecules in Oncomine datasets and conducted Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test and functional enrichment analysis on these hub genes. Finally, we analyzed the relationship clinicopathological features analysis with the key gene. Results There were 719 differentially expressed genes identified to be associated with colon cancer microenvironment. We screened out 10 hub genes by construction of PPI network. The functions of these hub genes were enriched in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, alcoholism and systemic lupus erythematosus, which provided further insight into the roles of these genes in the tumor microenvironment. GNG4, with the highest degrees in the PPI network, were highly exprepressed in metastasis(P = 9.5-05) ,N1(P = 0.0025) and N2(,0.037).It was a relationship with stage. It was significantly different between with stage I and IV, II and III, II and IV,III and IV (P = 0.0015,0.029,3.9-05,0.00074,0.01,respectively) Conclusions We identified GNG4 can be regarded as a prognostic biomarker in colon cancer.


Author(s):  
Kai Meng ◽  
Jinghe Cao ◽  
Yehao Dong ◽  
Mengchen Zhang ◽  
Chunfeng Ji ◽  
...  

Wilms tumor gene (WT1) is used as a marker for the diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms involving WT1 in ovarian cancer require further study. Herein, we used bioinformatics and other methods to identify important pathways and hub genes in ovarian cancer affected by WT1. The results showed that WT1 is highly expressed in ovarian cancer and is closely related to the overall survival and progression-free survival (PFS) of ovarian cancer. In ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3, WT1 downregulation increased the mRNA expression of 638 genes and decreased the mRNA expression of 512 genes, which were enriched in the FoxO, AMPK, and the Hippo signaling pathways. The STRING online tool and Cytoscape software were used to construct a Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and for Module analysis, and 18 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected. Kaplan-Meier plotter analysis revealed that 16 of 18 genes were related to prognosis. Analysis of GEPIA datasets indicated that 7 of 16 genes were differentially expressed in ovarian cancer tissues and in normal tissues. The expression of IGFBP1 and FBN1 genes increased significantly after WT1 interference, while the expression of the SERPINA1 gene decreased significantly. The correlation between WT1 expression and that of these three genes was consistent with that of ovarian cancer tissues and normal tissues. According to the GeneMANIA online website analysis, there were complex interactions between WT1, IGFBP1, FBN1, SERPINA1, and 20 other genes. In conclusion, we have identified important signaling pathways involving WT1 that affect ovarian cancer, and distinguished three differentially expressed genes regulated by WT1 associated with the prognosis of ovarian cancer. Our findings provide evidence outlining mechanisms involving WT1 gene expression in ovarian cancer and provides a rational for novel treatment of ovarian cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Guoquan ◽  
Du Junwei ◽  
He Qi ◽  
Fu Xinghao ◽  
Ji Feihong ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundHashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, is a common autoimmune disease, which mainly occurs in women. The early manifestation was hyperthyroidism, however, hypothyroidism may occur if HT was not controlled for a long time. Numerous studies have shown that multiple factors, including genetic, environmental, and autoimmune factors, were involved in the pathogenesis of the disease, but the exact mechanisms were not yet clear. The aim of this study was to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by comprehensive analysis and to provide specific insights into HT. MethodsTwo gene expression profiles (GSE6339, GSE138198) about HT were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The DEGs were assessed between the HT and normal groups using the GEO2R. The DEGs were then sent to the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. The hub genes were discovered using Cytoscape and CytoHubba. Finally, NetworkAnalyst was utilized to create the hub genes' targeted microRNAs (miRNAs). ResultsA total of 62 DEGs were discovered, including 60 up-regulated and 2 down-regulated DEGs. The signaling pathways were mainly engaged in cytokine interaction and cytotoxicity, and the DEGs were mostly enriched in immunological and inflammatory responses. IL2RA, CXCL9, IL10RA, CCL3, CCL4, CCL2, STAT1, CD4, CSF1R, and ITGAX were chosen as hub genes based on the results of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and CytoHubba. Five miRNAs, including mir-24-3p, mir-223-3p, mir-155-5p, mir-34a-5p, mir-26b-5p, and mir-6499-3p, were suggested as likely important miRNAs in HT. ConclusionsThese hub genes, pathways and miRNAs contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of HT and offer potential treatment options for HT.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanjie Han ◽  
Xinxin Li ◽  
Jiliang Yan ◽  
Chunyan Ma ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Melanoma is the most deadly tumor in skin tumors and is prone to distant metastases. The incidence of melanoma has increased rapidly in the past few decades, and current trends indicate that this growth is continuing. This study was aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms of melanoma pathogenesis and discover underlying pathways and genes associated with melanoma.Methods: We used high-throughput expression data to study differential expression profiles of related genes in melanoma. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of melanoma in GSE15605, GSE46517, GSE7553 and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets were analyzed. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by paired t-test. Then the DEGs were performed cluster and principal component analyses and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction. After that, we analyzed the differential genes through bioinformatics and got hub genes. Finally, the expression of hub genes was confirmed in the TCGA databases and collected patient tissue samples.Results: Total 144 up-regulated DEGs and 16 down-regulated DEGs were identified. A total of 17 gene ontology analysis (GO) terms and 11 pathways were closely related to melanoma. Pathway of pathways in cancer was enriched in 8 DEGs, such as junction plakoglobin (JUP) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). In the PPI networks, 9 hub genes were obtained, such as loricrin (LOR), filaggrin (FLG), keratin 5 (KRT5), corneodesmosin (CDSN), desmoglein 1 (DSG1), desmoglein 3 (DSG3), keratin 1 (KRT1), involucrin (IVL) and EGFR. The pathway of pathways in cancer and its enriched DEGs may play important roles in the process of melanoma. The hub genes of DEGs may become promising melanoma candidate genes. Five key genes FLG, DSG1, DSG3, IVL and EGFR were identified in the TCGA database and melanoma tissues.Conclusions: The results suggested that FLG, DSG1, DSG3, IVL and EGFR might play important roles and potentially be valuable in the prognosis and treatment of melanoma.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 030006051988726
Author(s):  
Yuting Zhang ◽  
Bo Shen ◽  
Liya Zhuge ◽  
Yong Xie

Objective We aimed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEG) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods RNA-seq data were obtained from the Array Express database. DEG were identified using the edgeR package. A co-expression network was constructed and key modules with the highest correlation with IBD inflammatory sites were identified for analysis. The Cytoscape MCODE plugin was used to identify key sub-modules of the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network. The genes in the sub-modules were considered hub genes, and functional enrichment analysis was performed. Furthermore, we constructed a drug–gene interaction network. Finally, we visualized the hub gene expression pattern between the colon and ileum of IBD using the ggpubr package and analyzed it using the Wilcoxon test. Results DEG were identified between the colon and ileum of IBD patients. Based on the co-expression network, the green module had the highest correlation with IBD inflammatory sites. In total, 379 DEG in the green module were identified for the PPI network. Nineteen hub genes were differentially expressed between the colon and ileum. The drug–gene network identified these hub genes as potential drug targets. Conclusion Nineteen DEG were identified between the colon and ileum of IBD patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 147032032091963
Author(s):  
Xiaoxue Chen ◽  
Mindan Sun

Purpose: This study aims to identify immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy-related genes based on microarray data and to investigate novel potential gene targets for immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy treatment. Methods: Immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy chip data was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, which included 10 immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy and 22 normal samples. We used the limma package of R software to screen differentially expressed genes in immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy and normal glomerular compartment tissues. Functional enrichment (including cellular components, molecular functions, biological processes) and signal pathways were performed for the differentially expressed genes. The online analysis database (STRING) was used to construct the protein-protein interaction networks of differentially expressed genes, and Cytoscape software was used to identify the hub genes of the signal pathway. In addition, we used the Connectivity Map database to predict possible drugs for the treatment of immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy. Results: A total of 348 differentially expressed genes were screened including 107 up-regulated and 241 down-regulated genes. Functional analysis showed that up-regulated differentially expressed genes were mainly concentrated on leukocyte migration, and the down-regulated differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in alpha-amino acid metabolic process. A total of six hub genes were obtained: JUN, C3AR1, FN1, AGT, FOS, and SUCNR1. The small-molecule drugs thapsigargin, ciclopirox and ikarugamycin were predicted therapeutic targets against immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy. Conclusion: Differentially expressed genes and hub genes can contribute to understanding the molecular mechanism of immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy and providing potential therapeutic targets and drugs for the diagnosis and treatment of immunoglobulin-A-nephropathy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guofeng Zhou ◽  
Shaoyan Sun ◽  
Qiuyue Yuan ◽  
Run Zhang ◽  
Ping Jiang ◽  
...  

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complex disease characterized by dysfunctions in the heart, adipose tissue, and cerebral arteries. The elucidation of the interactions between these three tissues in HFpEF will improve our understanding of the mechanism of HFpEF. In this study, we propose a multilevel comparative framework based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially correlated gene pairs (DCGs) to investigate the shared and unique pathological features among the three tissues in HFpEF. At the network level, functional enrichment analysis revealed that the networks of the heart, adipose tissue, and cerebral arteries were enriched in the cell cycle and immune response. The networks of the heart and adipose tissues were enriched in hemostasis, G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) ligand, and cancer-related pathway. The heart-specific networks were enriched in the inflammatory response and cardiac hypertrophy, while the adipose-tissue-specific networks were enriched in the response to peptides and regulation of cell adhesion. The cerebral-artery-specific networks were enriched in gene expression (transcription). At the module and gene levels, 5 housekeeping DEGs, 2 housekeeping DCGs, 6 modules of merged protein–protein interaction network, 5 tissue-specific hub genes, and 20 shared hub genes were identified through comparative analysis of tissue pairs. Furthermore, the therapeutic drugs for HFpEF-targeting these genes were examined using molecular docking. The combination of multitissue and multilevel comparative frameworks is a potential strategy for the discovery of effective therapy and personalized medicine for HFpEF.


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