Identification of hub genes and therapeutic drugs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma based on integrated bioinformatics strategy

Cancer Cell International

Xin Lu¹  Yu Han²  Wei Zhou³  Wanli Yang³  Lili Duan³  Daiming Fan³  Xinhui Zhao³  Qingchuan Zhao³  Jinqiang Liu³  Liu Hong³  Yujie Zhang³  Xiaoqian Wang³  Hongwei Zhang³ 

[1] 0000 0001 0599 1243, grid.43169.39, The School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China;0000 0004 1761 4404, grid.233520.5, Department of Otolaryngology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China;0000 0004 1761 4404, grid.233520.5, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, and Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China;

关键词: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma;    Bioinformatics;    Hub genes;    Cell cycle;    Differentially expressed genes;    Drug;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12935-019-0854-6

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEsophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of leading malignant cancers of gastrointestinal tract worldwide. Until now, the involved mechanisms during the development of ESCC are largely unknown. This study aims to explore the driven-genes and biological pathways in ESCC.MethodsmRNA expression datasets of GSE29001, GSE20347, GSE100942, and GSE38129, containing 63 pairs of ESCC and non-tumor tissues data, were integrated and deeply analyzed. The bioinformatics approaches include identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and hub genes, gene ontology (GO) terms analysis and biological pathway enrichment analysis, construction and analysis of protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, and miRNA–gene network construction. Subsequently, GEPIA2 database and qPCR assay were utilized to validate the expression of hub genes. DGIdb database was performed to search the candidate drugs for ESCC.ResultsFinally, 120 upregulated and 26 downregulated DEGs were identified. The functional enrichment of DEGs in ESCC were mainly correlated with cell cycle, DNA replication, deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) mediated attractive signaling pathway, and Netrin-1 signaling pathway. The PPI network was constructed using STRING software with 146 nodes and 2392 edges. The most significant three modules in PPI were filtered and analyzed. Totally ten genes were selected and considered as the hub genes and nuclear division cycle 80 (NDC80) was closely related to the survival of ESCC patients. DGIdb database predicted 33 small molecules as the possible drugs for treating ESCC.ConclusionsIn summary, the data may provide new insights into ESCC pathogenesis and treatments. The candidate drugs may improve the efficiency of personalized therapy in future.

【 授权许可】

CC BY