Gene mutations in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway were related to immune thrombocytopenia pathogenesis

Abstract Immune thrombocytopenic (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disease with genetic susceptibility. In this research, we conducted an in-depth genomic analysis of a cohort of patients and elucidate molecular features associated with disease pathogenesis of ITP. High-molecular-weight genomic DNA was extracted from freshly frozen BMBMCs (bone marrow blood mononuclear cell) in 20 active ITP patients. After this, the samples were subjected to molecular genetic analysis by whole-exome sequencing technique (WES) then, confirmed by sanger sequencing method. The enriched signaling pathway analysis and cellular processes associated with the mutated genes was performed with gene mapping to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. The results of this study showed that there were 3998 missense mutations involving 2269 genes in more than 10 individuals. Unique genetic variants including PTEN, INSR and COCH were the most associated with the pathogenesis of ITP. Functional analysis revealed these mutation genes mainly affect Phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/serine/threonine kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathways (signal transduction) and platelet activation (immune system). Our finding further demonstrates the functional connections between these variant genes and ITP. Although the substantial mechanism and the impact of genetic variation are required further investigation, the application of next generation sequencing in ITP in this paper is a valuable method to reveal the genetic susceptibility.