Predicting interactome networks of up/down regulated proteins and drug-gene interaction analysis associated with...

Peri-implantitis is implant-associated inflammation that leads to irreversible loss of surrounding bone. Early diagnosis increases the success of peri-implantitis treatment. Despite various studies associated with this most common complication, early detection of the onset of peri-implantitis remains a major challenge. Molecular biomarkers are applicable detectors for the early detection of numerous diseases and monitoring their development. The present study aimed to predict interactome networks of up/down regulated proteins and analyze drug-gene interaction in peri-implantitis to identify the diagnostic and druggable genes.

In this in silico study, a suitable gene expression profile related to peri-implantitis was retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus. Screening differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was carried out based on the cut-off criteria |log2 (fold change)|>2 and P < 0.05. Interactome networks were constructed and analyzed by the STRING database (Version: 12.0) and the Cytoscape software (version: 3.9.1). Finally, to investigate drug-gene interaction, detected hub genes were analyzed by DGIdb (version: 5.0.6).

A total of 216 genes were identified as DEGs (129 down-regulated and 87 up-regulated genes) in peri-implantitis. Regarding Cytoscape analysis, FCGR3B, CSF3R, AQP9, TREM1, and P2RY13 were the top 5 hub nodes of up-regulated DEGs, and CXCL10, OASL, IFIT1, RSAD2, and ISG15 were the top 5 hub nodes of down-regulated DEGs. Among these key nods, AQP9, CSF3R, CXCL10, IFIT1, ISG15, OASL, and, FCGR3B were therapeutic targets and had approved drugs.

In this research, seven genes have been identified as druggable genes in peri-implantitis which can be used to treat and diagnose this disease. However, these results and identified genes need to be validated by clinical or experimental methods.