Comprehensive analysis of lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network in papillary thyroid cancer

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is one type of thyroid cancer. Although it has a good prognosis, the recurrence and metastasis rates remain high.

The microarray dataset GSE66783 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). With the R package, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and lncRNAs between normal adjacent tissues and cancer tissues of PTC were identified. The miRNAs that were targeted by DElncRNAs and the mRNAs that were targeted by miRNAs were discovered through miRcode and through miRTarBase, TargetScan, and miRDB, respectively. Furthermore, the ceRNA network was constructed. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed on the DEGs. The PPI network of the DEGs was obtained from the STRING database, and the top 5 hub genes that had a tight correlation with the disease were obtained by using Cytoscape. Finally, the study used the Kaplan-Meier method to analyze PTC patient survival time, and the Human Protein Atlas database was used to retrieve the expression of the hub genes in normal and PTC patient tissues.

Five hub genes showed significant differences in expression in the PPI network, and 12 lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA pathways might participate in the potential pathophysiological process of PTC.

The study indicated that these ceRNAs might contribute to future therapies for PTC.