口腔鳞状细胞癌m6A相关差异表达基因的生物信息学分析

Bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed m6A associated genes of oral squamous cell carcinoma

摘要:

目的：筛选口腔鳞状细胞癌（oral squamous cell carcinoma，OSCC）m6A相关的差异表达基因，探寻相关信号通路，为OSCC提供候选的诊断标记物和分子治疗靶点。方法：下载TCGA数据库中OSCC数据，提取m6A相关基因的表达。R软件筛选正常组织和肿瘤组织间的差异表达基因，对m6A相关基因进行聚类分析与相关性分析。基因富集分析（gene set enrichment analysis，GSEA）研究差异基因的信号通路。结果：本研究筛选出8个差异表达基因（P<0.05），包括HNRNPC、KIAA1429、METTL3、METTL14、RBM15、WTAP、YTHDF1和YTHDF2，差异基因在癌组织的表达量均高于正常组织（P<0.05）。m6A相关基因之间存在复杂的相关性。GSEA富集分析显示，差异表达基因主要参与细胞周期、碱基切除修复、同源重组和剪接体等相关信号通路。结论：HNRNPC、KIAA1429、METTL3、METTL14、RBM15、WTAP、YTHDF1与YTHDF2可作为OSCC的候选诊断标记物和分子治疗靶点。

Abstract:

Objective：To identify differentially expressed m6A associated genes of oral squamous cell carcinoma（OSCC） and their related signaling pathways，providing candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and potential target genes for therapy of OSCC. Methods：After downloading data on OSCC from TCGA database，m6A related gene expression profiles were obtained. R software was used to select differentially expressed m6A genes between normal samples and tumor ones. Cluster analysis was performed for all m6A associated genes and the interactions among these genes were studied. Gene set enrichment analysis（GSEA） was done for signaling pathways of OSCC due to differentially expressed m6A genes. Results：Eight differentially expressed m6A genes were identified（P<0.05），including HNRNPC，KIAA1429，METTL3，METTL14，RBM15，WTAP，YTHDF1 and YTHDF2. They showed significantly higher expressions in tumor samples compared with normal ones（P<0.05）. There was a complex correlation between m6A related genes. GSEA revealed that the differentially expressed m6A genes were mainly involved in such signaling pathways as cell cycle，base excision repairing，homologous recombination and spliceosome. Conclusion：HNRNPC，KIAA1429，METTL3，METTL14，RBM15，WTAP，YTHDF1 and YTHDF2 are expected to be potential diagnostic markers and molecular therapeutic targets of OSCC patients.