Identification of Hub Genes Associated with Diabetic Cardiomyopathy Using Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Abstract

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a common cardiovascular complication of diabetes, which may threaten the quality of life and shorten life expectancy in diabetic population. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the diabetes cardiomyopathy are not fully elucidated. We analyzed two datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Differentially expression analysis and weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) were used to screen key genes and molecules. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were constructed to identify hub genes. The diagnostic value of hub gene was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to validate the hub genes. A total of 13 differentially co-expressed modules were selected by WGCNA and differential expression analysis. KEGG and GO analysis showed these DEGs were mainly enriched in lipid metabolism and myocardial hypertrophy pathway, cytomembrane and mitochondrion. As a result, six genes were identified as hub genes. Finally, five genes (Pdk4, Lipe, Serpine1, Igf1r, and Bcl2l1) were found significantly changed in both the validation dataset and experimental mice with DCM. In conclusion, the present study identified five genes which may help to provide novel targets for the diagnosis and treatment of DCM.