Identification of key pathways and genes in the progression of cervical cancer using bioinformatics analysis

AEBP1 upregulation contributes to cervical cancer progression by facilitating cell proliferation, migration, and invasion

BACKGROUND

Aberrant expression of adipocyte enhancer-binding protein 1 (AEBP1) has been demonstrated to be involved in the tumorigenesis and progression of numerous cancers. This study was aimed to investigate the mechanism of AEBP1 in the development of cervical cancer.

METHODS

The expression of AEBP1 in cervical cancer was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The function of AEBP1 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion was determined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay, colony formation, and transwell assay. The activation of related signaling pathway was determined by western blot. The bioinformatics analysis was performed by Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis.

RESULTS

Higher protein expression of AEBP1 was observed in patients with cervical cancer. Overexpressed AEBP1 promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities in cervical cancer cells. Moreover, the research manifested that AEBP1 activated the phosphorylation of STAT3. GO and KEGG analysis showed that genes positively related to AEBP1 were highly enriched in functions like epithelial cell proliferation, muscle cell migration, myoblast migration, smooth muscle tissue development, ECM-receptor interaction, transcriptional misregulation in cancer, and proteoglycans in cancer. While genes negatively related to AEBP1 were associated with immunity, including inflammatory response, external-stimulus response, neutrophil, granulocyte, and macrophage chemotaxis.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggested that AEBP1 acts as an oncogened and might be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cervical cancer.

Antitumor Effect of Poplar Propolis on Human Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma A431 Cells

Propolis is a gelatinous substance processed by western worker bees from the resin of plant buds and mixed with the secretions of the maxillary glands and beeswax. Propolis has extensive biological activities and antitumor effects. There have been few reports about the antitumor effect of propolis against human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) A431 cells and its potential mechanism. CCK-8 assays, label-free proteomics, RT-PCR, and a xenograft tumor model were employed to explore this possibility. The results showed that the inhibition rate of A431 cell proliferation by the ethanol extract of propolis (EEP) was dose-dependent, with an IC50 of 39.17 μg/mL. There were 193 differentially expressed proteins in the EEP group compared with the control group (p < 0.05), of which 103 proteins (53.37%) were upregulated, and 90 proteins (46.63%) were downregulated. The main three activated and suppressed Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction, amoebiasis, cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, and Alzheimer's disease. The tumor volume of the 100 mg/kg EEP group was significantly different from that of the control group (p < 0.05). These results provide a theoretical basis for the potential treatment of human CSCC A431 cell tumors using propolis.

In situ grown magnetic COF@MOF with a phosphoserine anchor for in-depth N-glycopeptide analysis in serum

A hydrophilic phosphoserine-functionalized magnetic organic framework composite (termed Fe3O4@COF@MOF-PS) was synthesized by an in situ growth strategy for effective capture of N-glycopeptides. Fe3O4@COF@MOF-PS exhibited high sensitivity (0.2 fmol μL-1), outstanding exclusion of size capability (1 : 10 000), good selectivity (1 : 2000), and reusability (at least 10 times). It also exhibited remarkable performance in the N-glycopeptide analysis in complex biological samples. Via nano-LC-MS/MS analysis, a total of 223 N-glycopeptides with 161 glycosylation sites assigned to 91 glycoproteins and 331 N-glycopeptides with 243 glycosylation sites assigned to 134 glycoproteins were identified in sera from cervical cancer patients and normal controls, respectively. Biological processes and molecular functional analyses indicate that the captured glycoproteins are of significant relevance to cervical cancer, for example, gene coverage or expression of cell adhesion and extracellular matrix structural constituents. Thus, Fe3O4@COF@MOF-PS not only efficiently captures N-glycopeptides, but also has the possibility of screening potential disease markers and elucidating the process of cervical cancer development.

Metadata analysis to explore hub of the hub-genes highlighting their functions, pathways and regulators for cervical cancer diagnosis and therapies

Cervical cancer (CC) is considered as the fourth most common women cancer globally.that shows malignant features of local infiltration and invasion into adjacent organs and tissues. There are several individual studies in the literature that explored CC-causing hub-genes (HubGs), however, we observed that their results are not so consistent. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore hub of the HubGs (hHubGs) that might be more representative CC-causing HubGs compare to the single study based HubGs. We reviewed 52 published articles and found 255 HubGs/studied-genes in total. Among them, we selected 10 HubGs (CDK1, CDK2, CHEK1, MKI67, TOP2A, BRCA1, PLK1, CCNA2, CCNB1, TYMS) as the hHubGs by the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Then, we validated their differential expression patterns between CC and control samples through the GPEA database. The enrichment analysis of HubGs revealed some crucial CC-causing biological processes (BPs), molecular functions (MFs) and cellular components (CCs) by involving hHubGs. The gene regulatory network (GRN) analysis identified four TFs proteins and three miRNAs as the key transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators of hHubGs. Then, we identified hHubGs-guided top-ranked FDA-approved 10 candidate drugs and validated them against the state-of-the-arts independent receptors by molecular docking analysis. Finally, we investigated the binding stability of the top-ranked three candidate drugs (Docetaxel, Temsirolimus, Paclitaxel) by using 100 ns MD-based MM-PBSA simulations and observed their stable performance. Therefore the finding of this study might be the useful resources for CC diagnosis and therapies.

Bioinformatics Screening of Potential Biomarkers from mRNA Expression Profiles to Discover Drug Targets and Agents for Cervical Cancer

Bioinformatics analysis has been playing a vital role in identifying potential genomic biomarkers more accurately from an enormous number of candidates by reducing time and cost compared to the wet-lab-based experimental procedures for disease diagnosis, prognosis, and therapies. Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most malignant diseases seen in women worldwide. This study aimed at identifying potential key genes (KGs), highlighting their functions, signaling pathways, and candidate drugs for CC diagnosis and targeting therapies. Four publicly available microarray datasets of CC were analyzed for identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by the LIMMA approach through GEO2R online tool. We identified 116 common DEGs (cDEGs) that were utilized to identify seven KGs (AURKA, BRCA1, CCNB1, CDK1, MCM2, NCAPG2, and TOP2A) by the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. The GO functional and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of KGs revealed some important functions and signaling pathways that were significantly associated with CC infections. The interaction network analysis identified four TFs proteins and two miRNAs as the key transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators of KGs. Considering seven KGs-based proteins, four key TFs proteins, and already published top-ranked seven KGs-based proteins (where five KGs were common with our proposed seven KGs) as drug target receptors, we performed their docking analysis with the 80 meta-drug agents that were already published by different reputed journals as CC drugs. We found Paclitaxel, Vinorelbine, Vincristine, Docetaxel, Everolimus, Temsirolimus, and Cabazitaxel as the top-ranked seven candidate drugs. Finally, we investigated the binding stability of the top-ranked three drugs (Paclitaxel, Vincristine, Vinorelbine) by using 100 ns MD-based MM-PBSA simulations with the three top-ranked proposed receptors (AURKA, CDK1, TOP2A) and observed their stable performance. Therefore, the proposed drugs might play a vital role in the treatment against CC.

Identification of Key Pathways and Establishment of a Seven-Gene Prognostic Signature in Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) remains high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to identify critical pathways underlying cervical carcinogenesis and establish a prognostic signature. Six datasets from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database were used to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CC and normal tissues. We used the unions of the DEGs to perform functional analysis. The 108 overlapped DEGs were analyzed to determine a prognostic signature by Cox regression and Lasso analysis based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI) were used to determine the relationships between the signature and biological functions. The PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, the Ras signaling pathway, and the viral carcinogenesis pathway may be critical for CC development. We identified seven genes (PLOD2, DSG2, SPP1, CXCL8, MCM5, HLTF, and KLF4) to construct a risk score formula. Survival analysis showed that the high-risk group indicated a worse prognosis than the low-risk group (p < 0.0001). The AUC of the prognostic signature was 0.7449, 0.7641, and 0.8146 at 1, 3, and 5 years. We also identified that the signature is an independent prognostic factor. GSEA showed five pathways were relevant to the signature, such as the adherens junction pathway. The signature also affected the abundances of various types of immune cells, such as B cell, CD4+ T cell, and CD8+ T cell. Further, we found that SPP1 was co-expressed with HK3, CD163, CCL3, CLEC5A, MMP8, TREM1, OLR1, and TREM2. The results of Gene Ontology analysis showed that SPP1 and its co-expressed related proteins mainly affected metabolic process, multicellular organismal process, cell communication, cell proliferation, protein binding, and transporter activity. In conclusion, the present study explored the key pathways for CC development and the seven-gene signature can effectively make the prognosis evaluation of CC patients.

Autophagy-related long non-coding RNA signature for potential prognostic biomarkers of patients with cervical cancer: a study based on public databases

Background

Metastasis and recurrence are the main causes of death from cervical cancer (CC), thus it is important to identify more effective biomarkers to improve its prognosis. The purpose of our research was to determine the potential role of autophagy-related long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in CC and to construct an autophagy-related lncRNA signature for survival of CC.

Methods

The lncRNAs in CC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and autophagy-related lncRNAs were identified through the co-expression of lncRNA genes and autophagy genes. Several autophagy-related lncRNAs with prognostic value (AC012306.2, AL109976.1, ATP2A1-AS1, ILF3-DT, Z83851.2, STARD7-AS1, AC099343.2, AC008771.1, DBH-AS1, and AC097468.3) were identified using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses and a prognostic signature was established. The signature effect was detected by univariate Cox regression analysis [hazard ratio (HR) =1.665; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.331–2.082; P<0.001] and multivariate Cox regression analysis (HR =1.738; 95% CI: 1.359–2.223; P<0.001). A nomogram was drawn by risk score and clinical features.

Results

The prognostic signature could predict the survival of CC by survival-receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve [area under the curve (AUC) =0.810]. A nomogram was drawn by risk score and clinical features, and its c-index and calibration curve demonstrated that the prognostic signature could independently predict the prognosis of CC (P<0.001). Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) confirmed that the genes were significantly enriched in cancer- and autophagy-related pathways (P<0.05).

Conclusions

This 10 autophagy-related lncRNA signature has prognostic potential for CC. More important roles in the CC biology of these lncRNAs may be identified with further study.

TM7SF2 regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis by activation of C-Raf/ERK pathway in cervical cancer

Transmembrane 7 superfamily member 2 (TM7SF2) coding an enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism has been found to be differentially expressed in kinds of tissues. Nevertheless, the role of TM7SF2 in the regulation of growth and progression among various cancers is unclear. In this study, the immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay, real-time RT-PCR and western blotting analysis were used to determine the TM7SF2 expression in cervical cancer tissues. Next, we used multiple methods to determine the ability of cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, and cell cycle in cervical cancer cells after TM7SF2 modulation, such as CCK8 assay, colony formation assay, Transwell assay, wound healing assay, and flow cytometry. Our results revealed that upregulation of TM7SF2 facilitated cell proliferation and metastasis, suppressed cell apoptosis and prevented G0/G1 phase arrests in C33A and SiHa cells. Consistently, the opposite effects were observed after TM7SF2 knockout in cervical cancer cells. Further, we found that TM7SF2 participated in promoting tumorigenesis and progression via activation of C-Raf/ERK pathway in cervical cancer, which can be partly reversed by Raf inhibitor LY3009120. Moreover, TM7SF2 overexpression contributed to enhancement of xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Our findings indicated that TM7SF2 plays a vital role in tumor promotion by involving in C-Raf/ERK activation. Therefore, TM7SF2 could serve as a therapeutic target in future cervical cancer treatment.

Bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed genes and pathways in the development of cervical cancer

Background

This study aimed to explore and identify key genes and signaling pathways that contribute to the progression of cervical cancer to improve prognosis.

Methods

Three gene expression profiles (GSE63514, GSE64217 and GSE138080) were screened and downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened using the GEO2R and Venn diagram tools. Then, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to analyze the three gene expression profiles. Moreover, a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of the DEGs was constructed, and functional enrichment analysis was performed. On this basis, hub genes from critical PPI subnetworks were explored with Cytoscape software. The expression of these genes in tumors was verified, and survival analysis of potential prognostic genes from critical subnetworks was conducted. Functional annotation, multiple gene comparison and dimensionality reduction in candidate genes indicated the clinical significance of potential targets.

Results

A total of 476 DEGs were screened: 253 upregulated genes and 223 downregulated genes. DEGs were enriched in 22 biological processes, 16 cellular components and 9 molecular functions in precancerous lesions and cervical cancer. DEGs were mainly enriched in 10 KEGG pathways. Through intersection analysis and data mining, 3 key KEGG pathways and related core genes were revealed by GSEA. Moreover, a PPI network of 476 DEGs was constructed, hub genes from 12 critical subnetworks were explored, and a total of 14 potential molecular targets were obtained.

Conclusions

These findings promote the understanding of the molecular mechanism of and clinically related molecular targets for cervical cancer.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08412-4.

Integrated Profiles Analysis Identified a Coding-Non-Coding Signature for Predicting Lymph Node Metastasis and Prognosis in Cervical Cancer

Accumulating evidence has shown that lymph node metastasis (LNM) is not only an important prognostic factor but also an indicator of the need for postoperative chemoradiotherapy. Therefore, identifying risk factors or molecular markers related to LNM is critical for predicting the prognosis and guiding individualized treatment of patients with cervical cancer. In this study, we used the machine learning-based feature selection approach to identify eight optimal biomarkers from the list of 250 differentially expressed protein-coding genes and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the TCGA cohort. Then a coding-non-coding signature (named CNC8SIG) was developed using the elastic-net logistic regression approach based on the expression levels of eight optimal biomarkers, which is useful in discriminating patients with LNM from those without LNM in the discovery cohort. The predictive performance of the CNC8SIG was further validated in two independent patient cohorts. Moreover, the CNC8SIG was significantly associated with patient's survival in different patient cohorts. In silico functional analysis suggested that the CNC8SIG-associated mRNAs are enriched in known cancer-related biological pathways such as the Wnt signaling pathway, the Ras signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.

Splicing Genomics Events in Cervical Cancer: Insights for Phenotypic Stratification and Biomarker Potency

Gynaecological cancers are attributed to the second most diagnosed cancers in women after breast cancer. On a global scale, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the most common cancer in developing countries with rapidly increasing mortality rates. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a major contributor to the disease. HPV infections cause prominent cellular changes including alternative splicing to drive malignant transformation. A fundamental characteristic attributed to cancer is the dysregulation of cellular transcription. Alternative splicing is regulated by several splicing factors and molecular changes in these factors lead to cancer mechanisms such as tumour development and progression and drug resistance. The serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins and heterogeneous ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) have prominent roles in modulating alternative splicing. Evidence shows molecular alteration and expression levels in these splicing factors in cervical cancer. Furthermore, aberrant splicing events in cancer-related genes lead to chemo- and radioresistance. Identifying clinically relevant modifications in alternative splicing events and splicing variants, in cervical cancer, as potential biomarkers for their role in cancer progression and therapy resistance is scrutinised. This review will focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying the aberrant splicing events in cervical cancer that may serve as potential biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and novel drug targets.

Identification of a novel six autophagy-related genes signature for the prognostic and a miRNA-related autophagy predictor for anti-PD-1 therapy responses in prostate cancer

Background

Autophagy is a highly conserved homeostatic process in the human body that is responsible for the elimination of aggregated proteins and damaged organelles. Several autophagy-related genes (ARGs) contribute to the process of tumorigenesis and metastasis of prostate cancer (PCa). Also, miRNAs have been proven to modulate autophagy by targeting some ARGs. However, their potential role in PCa still remains unclear.

Methods

An univariate Cox proportional regression model was used to identify 17 ARGs associated with the overall survival (OS) of PCa. Then, a multivariate Cox proportional regression model was used to construct a 6 autophagy-related prognostic genes signature. Patients were divided into low-risk group and high-risk group using the median risk score as a cutoff value. High-risk patients had shorter OS than low-risk patients. Furthermore, the signature was validated by ROC curves. Regarding mRNA and miRNA, 12 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) and 1073 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected via the GEO database. We found that miR-205, one of the DEMs, was negatively regulated the expression of ARG (NKX2–3). Based on STRING analysis results, we found that the NKX2–3 was moderately related to the part of genes among the 6 autophagy-related genes prognostic signature. Further, NKX 2–3 was significantly correlated with OS and some clinical parameters of PCa by cBioProtal. By gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Lastly, we demonstrated that the association between NKX2–3 and tumor mutation burden (TMB) and PDCD1 (programmed cell death 1) of PCa.

Results

We identified that the six ARGs expression patterns are independent predictors of OS in PCa patients. Furthermore, our results suggest that ARGs and miRNAs are inter-related. MiR-205 was negatively regulated the expression of ARG (NKX2–3). Further analysis demonstrated that NKX2–3 may be a potential biomarker for predicting the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy in PCa.

Conclusions

The current study may offer a novel autophagy-related prognostic signature and may identify a promising miRNA-ARG pathway for predicting the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy in PCa.

Serum exosomal microRNA-766-3p expression is associated with poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The aim was to analyze the association between exosomal microRNA (miR)‐766‐3p expression levels in serum and the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The serum global exosomal miRNA expression of ESCC patients was measured by microRNA microarray. Quantitative real‐time PCR was used to analyze the expression levels of candidate miRNAs in both serum and tissues from ESCC patients. Wilcoxon tests were applied to evaluate clinical characteristics and their association with serum levels of exosomal miR‐766‐3p. A Cox regression model was used to identify prognostic factors. The effects of miR‐766‐3p expression on cell migration and invasion were examined using Transwell assays, and CCK‐8 assays were carried out to measure cell proliferation. The TNM stage was associated with high serum exosomal miR‐766‐3p levels of ESCC patients (P = .030). Higher serum exosomal miR‐766‐3p expression levels were associated with poor prognosis (for overall survival, hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval (CI)], 2.21 [1.00, 4.87]; for disease‐free survival, HR [95% CI], 2.15 [1.01, 4.59]). However, we found no association between the expression of miR‐766‐3p in tissue and ESCC prognosis. In vitro results showed that miR‐766‐3p promotes cell migration and invasion, but not cell proliferation. By using dual‐luciferase reporter assay, HOXA13 was confirmed as a direct target gene of miR‐766‐3p. The ESCC patients with highly expressed serum exosomal miR‐766‐3p had a significantly worse survival. Therefore, serum exosomal miR‐766‐3p could serve as a prognostic marker for the assessment of ESCC.

circ_0084927 promotes cervical carcinogenesis by sponging miR-1179 that suppresses CDK2, a cell cycle-related gene

Background

Cervical cancer (CC) is a malignant tumor found in the lowermost part of the womb. Evolving studies on CC have reported that circRNA plays a crucial role in CC progression. In this study, we investigated the main function of a novel circRNA, circ_0084927, and its regulatory network in CC development.

Methods

qRT-PCR was applied to evaluate the expression of circ_0084927, miR-1179, and CDK2 mRNA in CC tissues and cells. Dual-luciferase reporting experiments and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were conducted to validate the target relationship of miR-1179 with circ_0084927 and CDK2 mRNA. CCK-8 and BrdU assays were also used to evaluate CC cell proliferation. The adhesion and apoptosis phenotypes of CC cells were measured using cell–matrix adhesion and caspase 3 activation assay. Flow cytometry was also employed to detect the CC cell cycle.

Results

Our results indicated that circ_0084927 was up-regulated in CC tissues and cells. Findings also revealed that circ_0084927 silence inhibited CC cell proliferation and adhesion while facilitating apoptosis and triggering cell cycle arrest. However, miR-1179 down-regulation appeared in CC tissues. Apart from observing that circ_0084927 abolished miR-1179’s inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and adhesion, it was found that CDK2 was up-regulated in CC tissues and was instrumental in cancer promotion. Also observed was that miR-1179 directly targeted CDK2, thereby inhibiting CDK2’s promotion on the malignant phenotypes of CC cells. Lastly, results indicated that circ_0084927 revoked the inhibitory effect of miR-1179 on CDK2 by sponging miR-1179.

Conclusion

circ_0084927 promoted cervical carcinogenesis by sequestering miR-1179, which directly targeted CDK2. Our results also provided novel candidate targets for CC treatment in that it revealed the circ_0084927/miR-1179/CDK2 regulatory network that strengthened CC aggressiveness.

Cordycepin in Anticancer Research: Molecular Mechanism of Therapeutic Effects

Background:

Cordycepin is a nucleotide analogue from Cordyceps mushrooms, which occupies a notable place in traditional medicine.

Objective:

In this review article, we have discussed the recent findings on the molecular aspects of cordycepin interactions with its recognized cellular targets, and possible mechanisms of its anticancer activity.

Methods:

We have explored databases like pubmed, google scholar, scopus and web of science for the update information on cordycepin and mechanisms of its anticancer activity, and reviewed in this study.

Results:

Cordycepin has been widely recognized for its therapeutic potential against many types of cancers by various mechanisms. More specifically, cordycepin can induce apoptosis, resist cell cycle and cause DNA damage in cancer cells, and thus kill or control cancer cell growth. Also cordycepin can induce autophagy and modulate immune system. Furthermore, cordycepin also inhibits tumor metastasis. Although many success stories of cordycepin in anticancer research in vitro and in animal model, and there is no successful clinical trial yet.

Conclusion:

Ongoing research studies have reported highly potential anticancer activities of cordycepin with numerous molecular mechanisms. The in vitro and in vivo success of cordycepin in anticancer research might influence the clinical trials of cordycepin, and this molecule might be used for development of future cancer drug.

The Pharmacological Effects of Spatholobi Caulis Tannin in Cervical Cancer and Its Precise Therapeutic Effect on Related circRNA

The chemical components of Spatholobi Caulis tannin (SCT) have a modest therapeutic effect in patients with cervical cancer. However, the active components and the mechanism of action of SCT in HeLa cervical cancer cells need to be further studied. In this paper, 3D microfluidic chip technology was applied to simulate the effects of tannins in the human body, and the appropriate dose and time of administration were calculated. The cell cycle and apoptosis experiments demonstrated that SCT inhibits proliferation and stimulated apoptosis in HeLa cells. The differentially expressed genes were screened using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the GEO databases to identify common differentially expressed genes. A bioinformatic analysis of relevant genes, analysis using the molecular docking technique, and survival analysis were used to predict the target genes of SCT. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) associated with the SCT target genes and the regulatory effects of SCT on these circRNAs were determined. These studies showed that SCT mediates related circRNAs in HeLa cells to inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis in HeLa cells. Thus, SCT may be an effective strategy for treating cervical cancer.

Key Molecular Events in Cervical Cancer Development

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women. Infection by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main aetiology for the development of cervical cancer. Infection by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) and the integration of the HPV genome into the host chromosome of cervical epithelial cells are key early events in the neoplastic progression of cervical lesions. The viral oncoproteins, mainly E6 and E7, are responsible for the initial changes in epithelial cells. The viral proteins inactivate two main tumour suppressor proteins, p53, and retinoblastoma (pRb). Inactivation of these host proteins disrupts both the DNA repair mechanisms and apoptosis, leading to rapid cell proliferation. Multiple genes involved in DNA repair, cell proliferation, growth factor activity, angiogenesis, as well as mitogenesis genes become highly expressed in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer. This genomic instability encourages HPV-infected cells to progress towards invasive carcinoma. The key molecular events involved in cervical carcinogenesis will be discussed in this review.

Identification of Key Genes and Pathways in Cervical Cancer by Bioinformatics Analysis

Cervical cancer is a common malignant tumour of the female reproductive system that seriously threatens the health of women. The aims of this study were to identify key genes and pathways and to illuminate new molecular mechanisms underlying cervical cancer. Altogether, 1829 DEGs were identified, including 794 significantly down-regulated DEGs and 1035 significantly up-regulated DEGs. GO analysis suggested that the up-regulated DEGs were mainly enriched in mitotic cell cycle processes, including DNA replication, organelle fission, chromosome segregation and cell cycle phase transition, and that the down-regulated DEGs were primarily enriched in development and differentiation processes, such as tissue development, epidermis development, skin development, keratinocyte differentiation, epidermal cell differentiation and epithelial cell differentiation. KEGG pathway analysis showed that the DEGs were significantly enriched in cell cycle, DNA replication, the p53 signalling pathway, pathways in cancer and oocyte meiosis. The top 9 hub genes with a high degree of connectivity (over 72 in the PPI network) were down-regulated TSPO, CCND1, and FOS and up-regulated CDK1, TOP2A, CCNB1, PCNA, BIRC5 and MAD2L1. Module analysis indicated that the top 3 modules were significantly enriched in mitotic cell cycle, DNA replication and regulation of cell cycle (P < 0.01). The heat map based on TCGA database preliminarily demonstrated the expression change of the key genes in cervical cancer. GSEA results were basically coincident with the front enrichment analysis results. By comprehensive analysis, we confirmed that cell cycle was a key biological process and a critical driver in cervical cancer. In conclusion, this study identified DEGs and screened the key genes and pathways closely related to cervical cancer by bioinformatics analysis, simultaneously deepening our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the occurrence and progression of cervical cancer. These results might hold promise for finding potential therapeutic targets of cervical cancer.