Identification of potential core genes in atrial fibrillation based on bioinformatics analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias, which is caused by a number of minorring disorders caused by the heart owner's guide. It is noted in almost all organic heart disease and can also occur in non-organic heart disease,causing serious complications, such as heart failure and arterial embolism, seriously threaten people's health.Atrial fibrillation can cause serious complications, such as heart failure and arterial embolism, which seriously threaten people's health. Clinically, according to the characteristics of atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrillation is divided into paroxysmal atrial fibrillation,persistent atrial fibrillation, permanent atrial fibrillation (cannot be converted to sinus rhythm).Among them, persistent atrial fibrillation poses the greatest threat to people's health.So the main purpose of this study is to identify the differential genes in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. MATERIALS AND METHODS:To explore potential differential genes for permanent atrial fibrillation, we analyzed three microarray datasets GSE2240 derived from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. We used the“limma”function package of R software to screen differentially expressed genes(DEGs), and used the“pheatmap”function package to construct heatmaps for the screened differential genes.Visualization and Integration Discovery (DAVID) ,Cytoscape ,BMKcloud and String platforms were utilized for Genome Ontology (GO) analysis,Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis , PPI(protein-proteinInteraction) network analysis ,module analysis,and identification hub genes based on the selected differential genes.RESULTS:74 DEGs in total were identified, including 41 up- and 33 downregulated genes. These DEGs were mainly enriched in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway ,cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, Focal adhesion, and so on. The module analysis filtered out 12 key genes, including PRL, CREB1, AGO2, NAMPT, IGFBP2, FGF7, ANGPT2, SYT13, NRXN1, AQP4, TCEAL2, and CPLX1. 2 Hub genes were identified, including IGFBP2, and FGF7.CONCLUSIONS:IGFBP2 and FGF7 were identified as Hub genes of AF, which helped us to understand more deeply the pathophysiological mechanism of AF.