Landscape of Genetic and Modular Networks Between Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The relationship between non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been demonstrated in many studies. However, the underlying connection is still unknown. The present study explored the landscape between them. Based on literature research and modularized analysis, NSCLC and COPD network were constructed. We employed functional annotation to measure the relationships among the annotation terms of overlapping modules. The two diseases share 154 overlapping genes, 2374 common biological processes and 601 pathways. MMP9, BCL2, BAX, TP53, PIK3CA were common hub genes of the top three modules between NSCLC and COPD. The most common significant biological process was inflammatory response. Via validation, MMP9 and BCL2 were highly expressed in the NSCLC patients with COPD than healthy donors, while BAX and TP53 were lower expressed. Our results provide novel molecular connection between NSCLC and COPD, which may facilitate the dignosis and treatment of multiple diseases.