Screening and Identification of Key Genes, Pathways, and Drugs Associated with Neuropathic Pain in Dorsal Horn: Evidence from Bioinformatic Analysis

Abstract

Purpose Neuropathic pain is a devastating complex condition occurring post-nervous system damage. Microglia in dorsal horn drives neuropathic pain as a kind of immune cell. We aimed to find potential differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and candidate pathways, which induced neuropathic pain, and to identify some new transcription factors and therapeutic drugs via bioinformatic analysis. Methods The microarray profile GSE60670 was downloaded and analyzed. DEGs were screened and analyzed through Gene Ontology (GO), pathway enrichment, and protein-to-protein interaction (PPI) network. Respectively, transcription factors (TFs) and potential therapeutic drugs for DEGs were predicted through NetworkAnalyst and DGIdb databases. At last, we chose top 10 DEGs for external validation. Results A total of 100 DEGs were identified. The results of pathway and GO analyses were closely related to malaria inflammatory pathway and inflammatory response. Three necessary PPI modules and 9 hub genes were identified in PPI analysis, and 277 DEG-TF pairs were found among 54 DEGs and 32 TF. Moreover, 22 candidate drugs were found to match 9 hub genes. External validation of 9 of the top 10 DEGs were consistent with bioinformatic analysis. Conclusion This study provided comprehensive analyses for the functional gene sets and pathways related to neuropathic pain and promoted our understanding of the mechanism or therapy of neuropathic pain.

A Bioinformatics Study of Differentially Expressed Genes in Microarrays of Dorsal Root Ganglia from Rat Models of Neuropathic Pain

“…There are several different animal models used to explore the molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain [ 24 , 25 ]. Two recent bioinformatics analyses were performed in microarrays of DRG from neuropathic pain animal models of spared nerve injury and spinal nerve transection, and their identified DEGs are different from those in the present study [ 9 , 10 ]. This inconsistency suggests that different animal models of neuropathic pain may have distinct molecular mechanisms.…”

“…This study aimed to undertake bioinformatics analysis of DEGs in microarrays of DRG from the SNL and sham rat models of neuropathic pain, based on 4 Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, GSE15041, GSE38038, GSE2884, and GSE24982. There were 2 recently published bioinformatics analyses of DEGs in microarrays of DRG using other types of animal models of neuropathic pain, including spared nerve injury and spinal nerve transection [ 9 , 10 ]. The present study may improve the understanding of molecular mechanisms in the development of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.…”