Expression Profiles of Endometrial Carcinoma by Integrative Analysis of TCGA Data

Abstract

Background: This study was to explore the expression profile of endometrial carcinoma (EC) and identify the potential molecular mechanism and therapeutic targets. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were identified in EC using mRNA and miRNA sequencing data released by the Cancer Genome Atlas database; then, gene function and pathway of DEGs were analyzed based on the Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway databases; finally, the transcription factors (TFs) latently regulating the DEGs and DEMs were predicted and a TF-miRNA-Gene network was then established to summarize the regulatory links between TFs, DEMs and DEGs. Results: One thousand five hundred and forty two upregulated and 1,885 downregulated DEGs, 34 upregulated and 12 downregulated DEMs were identified. The principal DEGs-enriched functions were cell differentiation, cell migration, and cell surface receptor signaling pathway. The DEGs-enriched cell signaling pathways including the MAPK, Wnt signaling pathway, and the p53 signaling pathway. As shown in the TF-miRNA-Gene network, TFs such as CPBP and GKLF, miRNAs such as miR-141-3p and miR-130b-3p, regulated most of DEGs and DEMs. Conclusion: These results may contribute to the study of the molecular mechanism and therapeutic targets in EC, and facilitate the discovery of new biomarkers for screening, diagnosis and monitoring.

Novel miRNA markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of endometrial cancer

“…Previous studies have tried to determine the correlation between miRNAs and EC. For instance, has‐mir‐337‐3p, let‐7b and miR135a were indicated to have the potential to serve as noninvasive biomarkers, and the abnormal expression patterns of several miRNAs were suggested to have a strong association with carcinogenesis in the early stages. Previous research indicated that the expression pattern of miRNAs in EC can be correlated with their respective target mRNAs, inferred from an increase in the expression of several oncogenic proteins such as ERBB2, EGFR, EPHA2, BAX, GNA12, GNA13 and JUN, further substantiating that the combination of miRNAs with target mRNAs play an important role in carcinogenesis .…”

RNA-seq Reveals the Overexpression of IGSF9 in Endometrial Cancer

“…Based on their comprehensive findings on somatic copy number alterations and exome sequencing, a new molecular classification system was proposed for endometrial cancer [ 7 ]. However, limited evaluation of the mRNA expression data was provided [ 7 , 8 ]. By design, the raw RNA-seq data and clinicopathologic characteristics in all the TCGA projects are open to researchers who are interested in further analyses.…”

“…The largest effort in interrogating the transcriptome of endometrial cancer is from TCGA [ 7 ]; however both the initial comprehensive report from TCGA on endometrial cancer and the follow-up report by others who focused on the RNA-seq data of endometrial cancer in TCGA did not provide transcriptome-wide information on the differentially expressed genes in the scenario of endometrial cancer versus normal endometrial tissue [ 7 , 8 ]. Another effort by Xiong et al examined the transcriptome profiles of endometrial cancer versus adjacent noncancer tissue, but with 3 patients only [ 9 ].…”

Up-Regulation of LINC00158 Contributes to Endometrial Carcinoma Progression by Interacting with HMGB2

“…For instance, miR-181a-5p can be negatively regulated by lncRNA CCAT1 to repress EC cell proliferation and migration [21]. miR-130b-3p has been identi ed in EC by integrative analysis of TCGA data [22]. Hence, these data indicate that LINC00158 might be involved in EC progression.…”