Identification of Molecular Subgroups in Liver Cirrhosis by Gene Expression Profiles

Abstract Background: Cirrhosis is a common clinical chronic progressive liver disease and has become one of the main causes of death worldwide. The condition of liver cirrhosis is complex and there is also clinical heterogeneity. Identifying liver cirrhosis based on molecular characteristics has become a challenge.Methods: To reveal the potential molecular characteristics of different types of cirrhosis, we divided 79 patients with cirrhosis into 4 subgroups based on gene expression profiles. These gene expression profiles were retrieved from the mprehensive gene expression database. In addition, these subgroups showed different expression patterns. To reveal the differences between subgroups, we used weighted gene co-expression analysis and identified six subgroup-specific gene co-expression analysis modules.Results: The characteristics ofWCGNAmodules indicate that TGF - β signaling pathway,viral protein interaction with cytokines and cytokine receptors, including a variety of chemokines and inflammatory factors, are upregulated in subgroup I, indicating that subjects in subgroup I may show inflammatory characteristics; fatty acid metabolism, biosynthesis of cofactors, carbon metabolism and protein processing pathway in endoplasmic reticulum were significantly enriched in subgroup II, which indicated that the subjects in subgroup II might have the characteristics of active metabolism; arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and Neuroactive ligand−receptor interaction are significantly enriched in subgroup IV; we did not find a significant upregulation pathway in the third subgroup.Conclusion: The subgroups classification of liver cirrhosis cases shows that patients from different subgroups may have unique gene expression patterns, which indicates that patients in each subgroup should receive more personalized treatment.