Screening Key Genes and Biological Pathways in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma by Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Bioinformatics
• Genomics

Background:

• Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains a significant health concern with limited targeted therapies.
• Identifying key molecular drivers and pathways is crucial for developing novel treatment strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify hub genes and biological pathways associated with NPC using bioinformatics analysis.
• To uncover potential new therapeutic targets for NPC treatment.

Main Methods:

• Downloaded and analyzed three Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE40290, GSE61218, GSE53819) to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NPC and normal tissues.
• Utilized GEO2R, hiplot, DAVID, and STRING databases for DEG analysis, visualization, Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction.
• Screened for common DEGs (co-DEGs) across datasets and identified hub genes through PPI analysis.

Main Results:

• Identified 18 common differential genes (co-DEGs) across the three datasets.
• GO enrichment analysis revealed "inflammatory response" as a prominent biological term for co-DEGs.
• KEGG pathway analysis indicated that co-DEGs are primarily involved in the "interleukin (IL)-17 signaling pathway".
• Four hub genes were identified via PPI analysis, with three showing high expression in tumor tissues. PTGS2 was highlighted as a significant hub gene.

Conclusions:

• Bioinformatics analysis successfully identified key hub genes, including PTGS2, and pathways, such as IL-17 signaling, in NPC.
• These identified targets hold potential for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.