Identification of Potential Biomarkers in PBMC of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Results from Bioinformatic Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundThe discovery of biomarkers has become an attractive field in studying autoimmune diseases. For example, in the study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), various biomarkers such as genes and miRNAs have been identified for the diagnosis of SLE and its organ involvement. ResultsThe expression data of gene microarray GSE50772 was downloaded from the GEO, and 257 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained by using limma plug-in for R software. The tissue-specific gene expression analyses were performed in BioGPS database. Then, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed with STRING and visualized in Cytoscape. Whereafter, top twenty hub genes derived from the PPI network, could basically differentiate the SLE samples from the non-SLE samples, were ascertained through CytoHubba. What is noticeable is that the five novel hub genes ( ORM1, SLPI, OLFM4, TCN1 and CRISP3) and a related miRNA (hsa-let-7e-5p) may be considered as candidate biomarkers of SLE. ConclusionsFive genes (ORM1, SLPI, OLFM4, TCN1 and CRISP3) and a miRNA(hsa-let-7e-5p) in this discovery-driven study may become potential biomarkers for diagnosing SLE and assessing its organ damage, and they also will provide valuable information on the pathogenesis of SLE.