Jianbo Song1, Liqin Zhao2, Yuanping Li1. 1. Department of pharmacy, Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, PR China. 2. Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, PR China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus. The aim of this study was to identify core genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of LN. METHODS: We screened differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in LN patients using mRNA expression profile data from the Gene Expression Omnibus. The functional and pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed utilizing the Database for annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Target genes with differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMIs) were predicted using the miRTarBase database, and the intersection between these target genes and DEGs was selected to be studied further. RESULTS: In total, 107 common DEGs (CDEGs) were identified from the Tub_LN group and Glom_LN group, and 66 DEMIs were identified. Fifty-three hub genes and two significant modules were identified from the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and a miRNA-mRNA network was constructed. The CDEGs, module genes in the PPI network and genes intersecting with the CDEGs and target genes of DEMIs were all associated with the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway. CONCLUSION: In summary, this study reveals some crucial genes and pathways potentially involving in the pathogenesis of LN. These findings provide a new insight for the research and treatment of LN.
OBJECTIVE:Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus. The aim of this study was to identify core genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of LN. METHODS: We screened differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in LN patients using mRNA expression profile data from the Gene Expression Omnibus. The functional and pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed utilizing the Database for annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Target genes with differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMIs) were predicted using the miRTarBase database, and the intersection between these target genes and DEGs was selected to be studied further. RESULTS: In total, 107 common DEGs (CDEGs) were identified from the Tub_LN group and Glom_LN group, and 66 DEMIs were identified. Fifty-three hub genes and two significant modules were identified from the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and a miRNA-mRNA network was constructed. The CDEGs, module genes in the PPI network and genes intersecting with the CDEGs and target genes of DEMIs were all associated with the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway. CONCLUSION: In summary, this study reveals some crucial genes and pathways potentially involving in the pathogenesis of LN. These findings provide a new insight for the research and treatment of LN.