The prediction of the crucial regulatory factors and functional analysis in pulmonary arterial hypertension by re-annotation

Abstract Background Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, which increases the right ventricular load and eventually leads to right ventricular failure and death. Recent theoretical developments have revealed that quiet a few lncRNAs played an important role in the development of pulmonary vascular diseases, such as H19, tcons_00034812. However, the mechanism of mRNA regulated by lncRNA in the PAH remained unclear. Results In our study, we re-annotated Affymetrix Murine Genome array to Human reference genome(hg38) by using the data from GENCODE database, in the light of lncRNA and mRNA. We screened differentially expressed lncRNA/mRNA between PAH samples and normal samples. Then we constructed PAH related lncRNA/mRNA co-expression network and analyzed topological properties of the network. We excavated the modules by the WGCNA R package. The genes in the modules excavated are used for enrichment analysis of functions and pathways. Finally, 8 functional modules were identified as pathogenic modules, providing new ideas for understanding the potential mechanisms of PAH. Conclusions We generated a new strategy to do research on pulmonary arterial hypertension. The pathogenic modules played an important role and could offer new therapeutic targets for pulmonary arterial hypertension mechanism research.