Verify Hub Genes of expression profile in aortic dissection

Background To assess the mRNAs expression profile and explore the hub mRNAs and potential molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of human thoracic aortic dissection (TAD). Methodology: mRNA microarray expression signatures of TAD tissues (n=6) and no TAD tissues (NT;n=6) were analyzed by Arraystar human mRNAs microarray. Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were used to validate the result of mRNAs microarray. Bioinformatic tools including gene ontology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis were utilized. The protein-protein interaction networks were constructed based on data from the STRING database. Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) and cytohubba analysis were used to infer the most hug gene and pathways. Results: The top 10 hub genes CDK1, CDC20, CCNB2, CCNB1, MAD2L1, AURKA, C3AR1, NCAPG,CXCL12 and ASPM were identified from the PPI network. Module analysis revealed that TAD was associated with cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, p53 signaling pathway, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation. The qRT-PCR result showed that the expression of all hug genes was significantly increased in TAD samples (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These candidate genes could be used as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets of TAD. Author summary Many basic characteristics underlying the establishment of aortic dissection have not been studied in detail. The presented work sought to understand the pathogenesis of human thoracic aortic dissection by employing bioinformatic tools to explore the hub mRNAs and potential molecular mechanisms of thoracic aortic dissection. Many pathway were thought to have relevant with this disease, but the most important pathway was not define. We used bio-mathematical analysis to explore the potential functions in thoracic aortic dissection and identified the hub genes and explored the intrinsic molecular mechanisms involved in thoracic aortic dissection between two microarray analysis. Finally, we indentified the cell cycle maybe the key pathway in thoracic aortic dissection.