Screening of potential hub genes in pulmonary thromboembolism

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a fatal clinical syndrome that usually occurs in elderly individuals. The present study aimed to identify functional and key genes involved in the early diagnosis of PTE using bioinformatics analysis. The GSE84738 dataset was retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses were subsequently performed. In addition, Cytoscape software v.3.7.2 was used to construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Serum samples from patients with PTE and healthy individuals were collected and the expression levels of Toll-like receptor (TLR)4, TLR2, IL-1β, JUN, prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2), osteopontin (SPP1) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. A total of 160 upregulated and 159 downregulated differentially expressed genes were identified between patients with PTE and healthy individuals. TNF, IL-1β, JUN, TLR4, PTGS2, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, SPP1, ryanodine receptor 2, TLR2 and ET-1 were considered as hub genes, which are defined as the genes with the highest degree of interaction in the enrichment and PPI network analyses. The top 10 common genes with the highest degree in the PPI network and the top 10 genes in modules 1 and 2 were TLR4, TLR2, IL-1β, JUN, PTGS2, SPP1 and ET-1. Taken together, the present study suggested that TLR4, TLR2, IL-1β and SPP1 were enriched in patients with PTE, thus providing novel potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of PTE.