Gene set based systematic analysis of prostate cancer and its subtypes

Aim: A gene set based systematic analysis strategy is used to investigate prostate tumors and its subclusters with focuses on similarities and differences of biological functions. Results: Dysregulation of methylation status, as well as RAS/RAF/ERK and PI3K-ATK signaling pathways, were found to be the most dramatic changes during prostate cancer tumorigenesis. Besides, neural and inflammation microenvironment is also significantly divergent between tumor and adjacent tissues. Insights of subclasses within prostate tumor cohorts revealed four different clusters with distinct gene expression patterns. We found that samples are mainly clustered by immune environments and proliferation traits. Conclusion: The findings of this article may help to advance the progress of identifying better diagnosis biomarkers and therapeutic targets.