[Identify the Molecular Target of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma by Bioinformatics Analysis]

To identify the molecular pathogenesis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and to screen potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis evaluation of patients with DLBCL.

Gene expression profiles of GSE56315 were downloaded from GEO database. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the microarray was performed using"R"software. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses of up-regulated DEGs were performed using DAVID database. The survival analysis of up-regulated DEGs was performed using GEPIA database.

There were 55 DLBCL biopsy tissue specimes and 33 normal tonsil tissue specimes in the datasets. A total of 2001 differentially expressed genes were identified, including 1 079 up-regulated DEGs and 922 down-regulated DEGs. Function enrichment analysis indicated that the up-regulated DEGs were involved in 425 GO terms, including 31 genes of FDR＜0.05 (P＜0.05) and 17 pathways. In the GEPIA database, the expression levels of 12 up-regulated DEGs (AK8、AP2M1、ATOX1、 CSF2RA、CYP27A1、HEBP1、HTRA1、HTRA4、IGFBP3、PTGDS、SIGLEC15、UQCRC1) were found to be significantly correlated with shorter overall survival of DLBCL patients.

The internal biological information in DLBCL revealed by integrative bioinformatical analysis may provide an important theoretical basis for further research on molecular mechanism of DLBCL, screening of potential therapeutic targets and evaluation of prognosis.