Identification of Key Genes Associated With the Process of Hepatitis B Inflammation and Cancer Transformation by Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Jingyuan Zhang; Xinkui Liu; Wei Zhou; Shan Lu; Chao Wu; Zhishan Wu; Runping Liu; Xiaojiaoyang Li; Jiarui Wu; Yingying Liu; Siyu Guo; Shanshan Jia; Xiaomeng Zhang; Miaomiao Wang

doi:10.3389/fgene.2021.654517

Identification of Key Genes Associated With the Process of Hepatitis B Inflammation and Cancer Transformation by Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Front Genet. 2021 Sep 1:12:654517. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.654517. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the main cause of cancer death worldwide. More than half of hepatocellular carcinoma developed from hepatitis B virus infection (HBV). The purpose of this study is to find the key genes in the transformation process of liver inflammation and cancer and to inhibit the development of chronic inflammation and the transformation from disease to cancer.

Methods: Two groups of GEO data (including normal/HBV and HBV/HBV-HCC) were selected for differential expression analysis. The differential expression genes of HBV-HCC in TCGA were verified to coincide with the above genes to obtain overlapping genes. Then, functional enrichment analysis, modular analysis, and survival analysis were carried out on the key genes.

Results: We identified nine central genes (CDK1, MAD2L1, CCNA2, PTTG1, NEK2) that may be closely related to the transformation of hepatitis B. The survival and prognosis gene markers composed of PTTG1, MAD2L1, RRM2, TPX2, CDK1, NEK2, DEPDC1, and ZWINT were constructed, which performed well in predicting the overall survival rate.

Conclusion: The findings of this study have certain guiding significance for further research on the transformation of hepatitis B inflammatory cancer, inhibition of chronic inflammation, and molecular targeted therapy of cancer.

Keywords: bioinformatics; biomarkers; differentially expressed genes; hepatitis B; hepatocellular carcinoma; inflammation and cancer transformation; survival rate.