Identification and analysis of RNA editing events in ovarian serous cystadenoma using RNA-seq Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulan Wang ◽  
Xiaofeng Song ◽  
Tianyi Xu

Background: Recent studies have revealed thousands of A-to-I RNA editing events in primates. These events are closely related to the occurrence and development of multiple cancers, but the origination and general functions of these events in ovarian cancer remain incompletely understood. Objective: To further the determination of molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer from the perspective of RNA editing. Methods : Here, we used the SNP-free RNA editing Identification Toolkit (SPRINT) to detect RNA editing sites. These editing sites were then annotated and related functional analysis was performed. Results: In this study, about 1.7 million RES were detected in each sample, and 98% of these sites were due to A-to-G editing and were mainly distributed in non-coding regions. More than 1,000 A-to-G RES were detected in CDS regions, and nearly 700 could lead to amino acid changes. Our results also showed that editing in the 3′UTR regions can influence miRNA-target binding. We predicted the network of changed miRNA-mRNA interaction caused by the A-to-I RNA editing sites. We also screened the differential RNA editing sites between ovarian cancer and adjacent normal tissues, and then performed GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis on the genes that contain these differential RNA editing sites. Finally, we identified the potential dysregulated RNA editing events in ovarian cancer samples. Conclusion: This study systematically identified and analyzed RNA editing events in ovarian cancer and laid a foundation to explore the regulatory mechanism of RNA editing and its function in ovarian cancer.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liancheng Zhu ◽  
Mingzi Tan ◽  
Haoya Xu ◽  
Bei Lin

Abstract Background.Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4) is a novel serum biomarker for diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) with high specificity and sensitivity compared with CA125, and the increasing researches have been carried out on its roles in promoting carcinogenesis and chemoresistance in EOC in recent years, however, its underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of HE4 stimulation and to identify the key genes and pathways mediating carcinogenesis in EOC using microarray and bioinformatics analysis.Methods. We established a stable HE4-silence ES-2 ovarian cancer cell line labeled as “S”, and its active HE4 protein stimulated cells labeled as “S4”. Human whole genome microarray analysis was used to identify deferentially expressed genes (DEGs) from triplicate samples of S4 and S cells. “clusterProfiler” package in R, DAVID, Metascape, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were used to perform gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis, and cBioPortal for WFDC2 coexpression analysis. GEO dataset (GSE51088) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied for validation. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and modular analyses were performed using Metascape and Cytoscape. Results.In total, 713 DEGs were found (164 up regulated and 549 down regulated) and further analyzed by GO, pathway enrichment and PPI analyses. We found that MAPK pathway accounted for a significant portion of the enriched terms. WFDC2 coexpression analysis revealed ten WFDC2 coexpressed genes (TMEM220A, SEC23A, FRMD6, PMP22, APBB2, DNAJB4, ERLIN1, ZEB1, RAB6B, and PLEKHF1) that were also dramatically changed in S4 cells and validated by dataset GSE51088. Kaplan–Meier survival statistics revealed clinical significance for all of the 10 target genes. Finally, PPI was constructed, sixteen hub genes and eight molecular complex detections (MCODEs) were identified, the seeds of five most significant MCODEs were subjected to GO and KEGG enrichment analysis and their clinical significance was evaluated.Conclusions.By applying microarray and bioinformatics analyses, we identified DEGs and determined a comprehensive gene network of active HE4 stimulation in EOC cells. We offered several possible mechanisms and identified therapeutic and prognostic targets of HE4 in EOC.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liancheng Zhu ◽  
Mingzi Tan ◽  
Haoya Xu ◽  
Bei Lin

Abstract Background: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a novel serum biomarker for diagnosing epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) with high specificity and sensitivity, compared with CA125. Recent studies have focused on the roles of HE4 in promoting carcinogenesis and chemoresistance in EOC; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying its action remain poorly understood. This study was conducted to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying HE4 stimulation and identifying key genes and pathways mediating carcinogenesis in EOC by microarray and bioinformatics analysis.Methods: We established a stable HE4-silenced ES-2 ovarian cancer cell line labeled as “S”; the S cells were stimulated with the active HE4 protein, yielding cells labeled as “S4”. Human whole-genome microarray analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in S4 and S cells. The “clusterProfiler” package in R, DAVID, Metascape, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis were used to perform gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis, and cBioPortal was used for WFDC2 coexpression analysis. The GEO dataset (GSE51088) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to validate the results. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and modular analyses were performed using Metascape and Cytoscape, respectively. Results: In total, 713 DEGs were identified (164 upregulated and 549 downregulated) and further analyzed by GO, pathway enrichment, and PPI analyses. We found that the MAPK pathway accounted for a significant large number of the enriched terms. WFDC2 coexpression analysis revealed ten WFDC2-coexpressed genes (TMEM220A, SEC23A, FRMD6, PMP22, APBB2, DNAJB4, ERLIN1, ZEB1, RAB6B, and PLEKHF1) whose expression levels were dramatically altered in S4 cells; this was validated using the GSE51088 dataset. Kaplan–Meier survival statistics revealed that all 10 target genes were clinically significant. Finally, in the PPI network, 16 hub genes and 8 molecular complex detections (MCODEs) were identified; the seeds of the five most significant MCODEs were subjected to GO and KEGG enrichment analyses and their clinical relevance was evaluated.Conclusions: Through microarray and bioinformatics analyses, we identified DEGs and determined a comprehensive gene network following active HE4 stimulation in EOC cells. We proposed several possible mechanisms underlying the action of HE4 and identified the therapeutic and prognostic targets of HE4 in EOC.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junzui Li ◽  
Yuehua Zhang ◽  
Zhixiong Huang ◽  
Bin Zhao ◽  
Ke Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background As one of the common malignant tumors in women, ovarian cancer (OC) often exerts the atypically early clinical symptoms. Therefore, it is particularly important for seeking more effectively early diagnosis of OC (biomarkers). Besides, although a lot of sequencing and chip research have been done on the pathogenesis of OC, the pathogenesis, clinical and genetic features of OC is still not very clear.Methods In this study, 4 GEO data (GSE66957, GSE119054, GSE14407 and GSE54388) were selected for differential expression gene analysis (DEGs), and the important template of the 4 DEGS overlapping genes was taken as Hub genes. Then, the GO and pathway enrichment analysis were conducted to confirm the enrichment of these Hub genes, and these Hub genes were identified as key genes. In addition, the transcriptional levels of these Hub genes in OC and their impacts on the overall survival rate of OC were validated via the UCSC and TCGA datasets.. Besides, cBioPortal, TargetScan, UCSC, DiseaseMeth and TIMER software were performed to explore the potential biological functions of these key genes in OC.Results We screened out 10 Hub genes related to OC including VEGFA, ZWINT, CDKN2A, SLC2A1, TOP2A, MKI67, CCND1, KPNA2, FGF2 and SMC4, and further demonstrated that they were most significantly enriched in protein binding, cytoplasm, nucleus, extracellular exosome, membrane, cell division, cell adhesion and pathways in cancer. Meanwhile, CCND1, TOP2A, SMC4 and FGF2 were screened out as key candidate genes associated with OC. Further analysis proved these key candidate genes may regulate the occurrence and development of OC through mediating the gene mutation, miRNAs and genetic epigenetics such as methylation and acetylation.Conclusion These data would improve our understanding of the causes and underlying molecular events of OC, be of clinical significance for the early diagnosis and prevention of OC, and may provide the promising therapeutic targets in OC.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 387
Author(s):  
Zheyong Liang ◽  
Yongjian Zhang ◽  
Qiang Chen ◽  
Junjun Hao ◽  
Haichen Wang ◽  
...  

Acute aortic dissection is one of the most severe vascular diseases. The molecular mechanisms of aortic expansion and dissection are unclear. Clinical studies have found that statins play a protective role in aortic dissection development and therapy; however, the mechanism of statins’ effects on the aorta is unknown. The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset GSE52093, GSE2450and GSE8686 were analyzed, and genes expressed differentially between aortic dissection samples and normal samples were determined using the Networkanalyst and iDEP tools. Weight gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA), functional annotation, pathway enrichment analysis, and the analysis of the regional variations of genomic features were then performed. We found that the minichromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs), a family of proteins targeted by statins, were upregulated in dissected aortic wall tissues and play a central role in cell-cycle and mitosis regulation in aortic dissection patients. Our results indicate a potential molecular target and mechanism for statins’ effects in patients with acute type A aortic dissection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ningyang Gao ◽  
Li Ding ◽  
Jian Pang ◽  
Yuxin Zheng ◽  
Yuelong Cao ◽  
...  

Purpose. This study is aimed at exploring the potential metabolite/gene biomarkers, as well as the differences between the molecular mechanisms, of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. Transcriptome dataset GSE100786 was downloaded to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OA samples and RA samples. Meanwhile, metabolomic dataset MTBLS564 was downloaded and preprocessed to obtain metabolites. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) and linear models were used to reveal DEG-metabolite relations. Finally, metabolic pathway enrichment analysis was performed to investigate the differences between the molecular mechanisms of OA and RA. Results. A total of 976 DEGs and 171 metabolites were explored between OA samples and RA samples. The PCA and linear module analysis investigated 186 DEG-metabolite interactions including Glycogenin 1- (GYG1-) asparagine_54, hedgehog acyltransferase- (HHAT-) glucose_70, and TNF receptor-associated factor 3- (TRAF3-) acetoacetate_35. Finally, the KEGG pathway analysis showed that these metabolites were mainly enriched in pathways like gap junction, phagosome, NF-kappa B, and IL-17 pathway. Conclusions. Genes such as HHAT, GYG1, and TRAF3, as well as metabolites including glucose, asparagine, and acetoacetate, might be implicated in the pathogenesis of OA and RA. Metabolites like ethanol and tyrosine might participate differentially in OA and RA progression via the gap junction pathway and phagosome pathway, respectively. TRAF3-acetoacetate interaction may be involved in regulating inflammation in OA and RA by the NF-kappa B and IL-17 pathway.


Author(s):  
Peiliang Wu ◽  
Xiaona Xie ◽  
Mayun Chen ◽  
Junwei Sun ◽  
Luqiong Cai ◽  
...  

Background and Objective: Qishen Yiqi formula (QSYQ) is used to treat cardiovascular disease in the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine. However, few studies have explored whether QSYQ affects pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and the mechanisms of action and molecular targets of QSYQ for the treatment of PAH are unclear. A bioinformatics/network topology-based strategy was used to identify the bioactive ingredients, putative targets, and molecular mechanisms of QSYQ in PAH. Methods: A network pharmacology-based strategy was employed by integrating active component gathering, target prediction, PAH gene collection, network topology, and gene enrichment analysis to systematically explore the multicomponent synergistic mechanisms. Results: In total, 107 bioactive ingredients of QSYQ and 228 ingredient targets were identified. Moreover, 234 PAH-related differentially expressed genes with a |fold change| >2 and an adjusted P value < 0.005 were identified between the PAH patient and control groups, and 266 therapeutic targets were identified. The pathway enrichment analysis indicated that 85 pathways, including the PI3K-Akt, MAPK, and HIF-1 signaling pathways, were significantly enriched. TP53 was the core target gene, and 7 other top genes (MAPK1, RELA, NFKB1, CDKN1A, AKT1, MYC, and MDM2) were the key genes in the gene-pathway network based on the effects of QSYQ on PAH. Conclusion: An integrative investigation based on network pharmacology may elucidate the multicomponent synergistic mechanisms of QSYQ in PAH and lay a foundation for further animal experiments, human clinical trials and rational clinical applications of QSYQ.


Hereditas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Tang ◽  
Xiaobo Yang ◽  
Huaqing Shu ◽  
Yuan Yu ◽  
Shangwen Pan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sepsis and septic shock are life-threatening diseases with high mortality rate in intensive care unit (ICU). Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of sepsis, and its occurrence is a poor prognostic sign to septic patients. We analyzed co-differentially expressed genes (co-DEGs) to explore relationships between septic shock and AKI and reveal potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of septic-shock-associated AKI (SSAKI). Methods Two gene expression datasets (GSE30718 and GSE57065) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The GSE57065 dataset included 28 septic shock patients and 25 healthy volunteers and blood samples were collected within 0.5, 24 and 48 h after shock. Specimens of GSE30718 were collected from 26 patients with AKI and 11 control patents. AKI-DEGs and septic-shock-DEGs were identified using the two datasets. Subsequently, Gene Ontology (GO) functional analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were performed to elucidate molecular mechanisms of DEGs. We also evaluated co-DEGs and corresponding predicted miRNAs involved in septic shock and AKI. Results We identified 62 DEGs in AKI specimens and 888, 870, and 717 DEGs in septic shock blood samples within 0.5, 24 and 48 h, respectively. The hub genes of EGF and OLFM4 may be involved in AKI and QPCT, CKAP4, PRKCQ, PLAC8, PRC1, BCL9L, ATP11B, KLHL2, LDLRAP1, NDUFAF1, IFIT2, CSF1R, HGF, NRN1, GZMB, and STAT4 may be associated with septic shock. Besides, co-DEGs of VMP1, SLPI, PTX3, TIMP1, OLFM4, LCN2, and S100A9 coupled with corresponding predicted miRNAs, especially miR-29b-3p, miR-152-3p, and miR-223-3p may be regarded as promising targets for the diagnosis and treatment of SSAKI in the future. Conclusions Septic shock and AKI are related and VMP1, SLPI, PTX3, TIMP1, OLFM4, LCN2, and S100A9 genes are significantly associated with novel biomarkers involved in the occurrence and development of SSAKI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Chun Li ◽  
Xia Du ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Qi-Qi Liu ◽  
Wen Bing Zhi ◽  
...  

Cardiocerebral vascular diseases (CCVDs) are the main reasons for high morbidity and mortality all over the world, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, and so on. Chinese herbs pair of the Cinnamomum cassia Presl (Chinese name, rougui) and the Aconitum carmichaelii Debx (Chinese name, fuzi) can be effective in CCVDs, which is recorded in the ancient classic book Shennong Bencao Jing, Mingyibielu and Thousand Golden Prescriptions. However, the active ingredients and the molecular mechanisms of rougui-fuzi in treatment of CCVDs are still unclear. This study was designed to apply a system pharmacology approach to reveal the molecular mechanisms of the rougui-fuzi anti-CCVDs. The 163 candidate compounds were retrieved from Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP). And 84 potential active compounds and the corresponding 42 targets were obtained from systematic model. The underlying mechanisms of the therapeutic effect for rougui-fuzi were investigated with gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Then, component-target-disease (C-T-D) and target-pathway (T-P) networks were constructed to further dissect the core pathways, potential targets, and active compounds in treatment of CCVDs for rougui-fuzi. We also constituted protein-protein in interaction (PPI) network by the reflect target protein of the crucial pathways against CCVDs. As a result, 21 key compounds, 8 key targets, and 3 key pathways were obtained for rougui-fuzi. Afterwards, molecular docking was performed to validate the reliability of the interactions between some compounds and their corresponding targets. Finally, UPLC-Q-Exactive-MSE and GC-MS/MS were analyzed to detect the active ingredients of rougui-fuzi. Our results may provide a new approach to clarify the molecular mechanisms of Chinese herb pair in treatment with CCVDs at a systematic level.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Xin Shen ◽  
Rui Yang ◽  
Jianpeng An ◽  
Xia Zhong

Prunella vulgaris (PV) has a long history of application in traditional Chinese and Western medicine as a remedy for the treatment of subacute thyroiditis (SAT). This study applied network pharmacology to elucidate the mechanism of the effects of PV against SAT. Components of the potential therapeutic targets of PV and SAT-related targets were retrieved from databases. To construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, the intersection of SAT-related targets and PV-related targets was input into the STRING platform. Gene ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were carried out using the DAVID database. Networks were constructed by Cytoscape for visualization. The results showed that a total of 11 compounds were identified according to the pharmacokinetic parameters of ADME. A total of 126 PV-related targets and 2207 SAT-related targets were collected, and 83 overlapping targets were subsequently obtained. The results of the KEGG pathway and compound-target-pathway (C-T-P) network analysis suggested that the anti-SAT effect of PV mainly occurs through quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol and is most closely associated with their regulation of inflammation and apoptosis by targeting the PIK3CG, MAPK1, MAPK14, TNF, and PTGS2 proteins and the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways. The study demonstrated that quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol in PV may play a major role in the treatment of SAT, which was associated with the regulation of inflammation and apoptosis, by targeting the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2844
Author(s):  
Sayeh Saravi ◽  
Eriko Katsuta ◽  
Jeyarooban Jeyaneethi ◽  
Hasnat A. Amin ◽  
Matthias Kaspar ◽  
...  

Background: H2AX can be of prognostic value in breast cancer, since in advanced stage patients with high levels, there was an association with worse overall survival (OS). However, the clinical relevance of H2AX in ovarian cancer (OC) remains to be elucidated. Methods: OC H2AX expression studied using the TCGA/GTEX datasets. Subsequently, patients were classified as either high or low in terms of H2AX expression to compare OS and perform gene set enrichment. qRT-PCR validated in-silico H2AX findings followed by immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray. The association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the area of H2AX; prevalence and five-year OC survival was tested in samples from the UK Biobank. Results: H2AX was significantly overexpressed in OCs compared to normal tissues, with higher expression associated with better OS (p = 0.010). Gene Set Enrichment Analysis demonstrated gene sets involved in G2/M checkpoint, DNA repair mTORC1 signalling were enriched in the H2AX highly expressing OCs. Polymorphisms in the area around the gene were associated with both OC prevalence (rs72997349-C, p = 0.005) and worse OS (rs10790282-G, p = 0.011). Finally, we demonstrated that H2AX gene expression correlated with γ-H2AX staining in vitro. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that H2AX can be a novel prognostic biomarker for OC.


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