Publication Date:
2019
Description:
Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a multifactorial and heterogeneous disease that creates public health challenges worldwide. The underlying molecular mechanisms of COPD are not entirely clear. In this study, we aimed to identify the critical genes and potential molecular mechanisms of COPD by bioinformatic analysis. The gene expression profiles of lung tissues of COPD cases and healthy controls were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by integration with annotations from Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), followed by construction of a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and weighted gene co‑expression analysis (WGCNA). We identified 139 DEGs associated with the progression of COPD, among which fourteen Hub genes were identified and found to be enriched in certain categories, including immune and inflammatory response, response to lipopolysaccharide and RAGE receptor binding; in addition, these Hub genes are involved in multiple signaling pathways, particularly hematopoietic cell lineage and cytokine‐cytokine receptor interaction. The fourteen Hub genes were positively or negatively associated with COPD by WGNCA analysis. The genes CX3CR1, PTGS2, FPR1, FPR2, S100A12, EGR1, CD163, S100A8, and S100A9 were identified to mediate inflammation and injury of the lung, and play critical roles in the pathogenesis of COPD. These findings improve our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of COPD.
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Electronic ISSN:
2211-5463
Topics:
Biology
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