Identification of potential target genes and crucial pathways in small cell lung cancer based on bioinformatic strategy and human samples

Xiuwen Chen; Li Wang; Xiaomin Su; Sen-Yuan Luo; Xianbin Tang; Yugang Huang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0242194

Identification of potential target genes and crucial pathways in small cell lung cancer based on bioinformatic strategy and human samples

PLoS One. 2020 Nov 13;15(11):e0242194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242194. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Xiuwen Chen¹, Li Wang¹, Xiaomin Su², Sen-Yuan Luo¹, Xianbin Tang¹, Yugang Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China.
² Department of Immunology, Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a carcinoma of the lungs with strong invasion, poor prognosis and resistant to multiple chemotherapeutic drugs. It has posed severe challenges for the effective treatment of lung cancer. Therefore, searching for genes related to the development and prognosis of SCLC and uncovering their underlying molecular mechanisms are urgent problems to be resolved. This study is aimed at exploring the potential pathogenic and prognostic crucial genes and key pathways of SCLC via bioinformatic analysis of public datasets. Firstly, 117 SCLC samples and 51 normal lung samples were collected and analyzed from three gene expression datasets. Then, 102 up-regulated and 106 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed. And then, functional annotation and pathway enrichment analyzes of DEGs was performed utilizing the FunRich. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the DEGs was constructed through the STRING website, visualized by Cytoscape. Finally, the expression levels of eight hub genes were confirmed in Oncomine database and human samples from SCLC patients. It showed that CDC20, BUB1, TOP2A, RRM2, CCNA2, UBE2C, MAD2L1, and BUB1B were upregulated in SCLC tissues compared to paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues. These suggested that eight hub genes might be viewed as new biomarkers for prognosis of SCLC or to guide individualized medication for the therapy of SCLC.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / genetics*
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Humans
Lung Neoplasms / genetics*
Lung Neoplasms / metabolism
Protein Interaction Maps*
Transcriptome

Substances

Biomarkers, Tumor

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81600436 and 81974088). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.