Deciphering core genetic and pathway signatures of Japanese encephalitis virus using transcriptomics.

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Bioinformatics
• Genomics

Background:

• Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) is a significant mosquito-borne zoonotic pathogen prevalent in Asia.
• JEV causes severe neurological damage and fatalities, with no specific treatment currently available.
• Understanding JEV's molecular mechanisms is crucial for therapeutic development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify potential molecular targets for JEV therapeutic intervention using bioinformatics.
• To analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in JEV infection.
• To discover novel biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for JEV.

Main Methods:

• Utilized bioinformatics to analyze gene expression data from NCBI-GEO profiles (GSE39740, GSE57330, GSE115167).
• Identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using R simpleaffy; performed gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis with clusterProfiler.
• Constructed gene networks using Cytoscape, identifying hub genes with MCODE and CytoHubba.

Main Results:

• Identified 1,601 DEGs (1,103 upregulated, 498 downregulated) in JEV infection.
• Discovered 37 hub genes, with ACTB, ALB, CASP3, CDK4, CXCL10, CXCL8, CXCR4, DDX58, DICER1, and EGR1 being the top 10.
• ACTB was identified as the most significant hub gene, with a high connectivity degree of 243.

Conclusions:

• The identified hub genes are promising therapeutic targets for JEV.
• This research enhances the understanding of molecular pathways affected by JEV.
• Findings provide a foundation for developing JEV biomarkers and treatments to reduce global health impact.