Computational Identification of Guillain-Barre Syndrome Related Genes by an mRNA Gene Expression Profile and a Protein-Protein Interaction Network
Abstract In this study, we developed a computational method to identify Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) related genes based on (i) a gene expression profile, and (ii) the shortest path analysis in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The mRMR (Maximum Relevance Minimum Redundancy) method was employed to select significant genes from an mRNA profile dataset of GBS patients and healthy controls. The protein products of the significant genes were then mapped to a PPI network generated from the STRING database. Shortest paths were computed and all shortest path proteins were picked out and were ranked according to their betweenness. Related genes of the top-most proteins in the ordered list were then retrieved and were regarded as potential GBS related genes in this study. As a result, totally 30 GBS related genes were screened out, in which 20 were retrieved from PPI analysis of up-regulated expressed genes and 23 were from down-regulated expressed genes (13 overlap genes). GO enrichment and KEGG enrichment analysis were performed respectively. Results showed that there were some overlap GO terms and KEGG pathway terms in both up-regulated and down-regulated analysis, which indicated these terms may play critical role during GBS process. These results could shed some light on the understanding of the Genetic and molecular pathogenesis of GBS disease, providing basis for future experimental biology studies and for the development of effective genetic strategies for GBS clinical therapies.