Bian YY, Yang LL, Zhang B, Li W, Li ZJ, Li WL, Zeng L. Identification of key genes involved in post-traumatic stress disorder: Evidence from bioinformatics analysis.
World J Psychiatry 2020;
10:286-298. [PMID:
33392005 PMCID:
PMC7754529 DOI:
10.5498/wjp.v10.i12.286]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious stress-related disorder.
AIM
To identify the key genes and pathways to uncover the potential mechanisms of PTSD using bioinformatics methods.
METHODS
Gene expression profiles were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by using GEO2R. Gene functional annotation and pathway enrichment were then conducted. The gene-pathway network was constructed with Cytoscape software. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was applied for validation, and text mining by Coremine Medical was used to confirm the connections among genes and pathways.
RESULTS
We identified 973 DEGs including 358 upregulated genes and 615 downregulated genes in PTSD. A group of centrality hub genes and significantly enriched pathways (MAPK, Ras, and ErbB signaling pathways) were identified by using gene functional assignment and enrichment analyses. Six genes (KRAS, EGFR, NFKB1, FGF12, PRKCA, and RAF1) were selected to validate using qRT-PCR. The results of text mining further confirmed the correlation among hub genes and the enriched pathways. It indicated that these altered genes displayed functional roles in PTSD via these pathways, which might serve as key signatures in the pathogenesis of PTSD.
CONCLUSION
The current study identified a panel of candidate genes and important pathways, which might help us deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanism of PTSD at the molecular level. However, further studies are warranted to discover the critical regulatory mechanism of these genes via relevant pathways in PTSD.
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