Identification of hub genes and molecular pathways in human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 associated diseases using protein-protein interactions networks

Amin Ebadi; Navid Momenifar; Shaghayegh Yazdani; Omid Gholizadeh; Vahdat Poortahmasebi

doi:10.18502/ijm.v14i1.8814

Amin Ebadi Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Navid Momenifar Human and Animal Cell Bank, Iranian Biological Resource Center (IBRC), ACECR, Tehran, Iran
Shaghayegh Yazdani Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Advanced Science & Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Omid Gholizadeh Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Vahdat Poortahmasebi Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v14i1.8814

Keywords: Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; Adult T-cell leukemia; Human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis; Gene expression; DEGs; Gene ontology

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the cause of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The present study aims to analyze gene expression patterns in ATL and HAM/TSP.

Materials and Methods: Microarray gene expression profiling of T-lymphocytes from HTLV-1 associated disease and healthy control were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Several bioinformatics tools were used to identify dif- ferentially expressed genes (DEGs). Among the generated DEGs, we constructed protein-protein interaction (PPI) between HAM/TSM and ATL in comparison to asymptomatic carriers (ACs). Subsequently, gene ontology (GO) and topological analysis were performed.

Results: We found that the majority of DEGs in ATL and HAM/TSP were importantly implicated in immune response cat- egories. The nodes and edges number of normal-AC, AC-ATL and ATL-HAM/TSP PPIs were 168 and 145, 116 and 97, and 275 and 327, respectively. Based on the topological analyses of protein-protein interaction networks, APP (Amyloid Beta Precursor Protein) was detected as a critical player in progression of HTLV-1 disease.

Conclusion: Dysregulation of immune response associated transcripts play a critical role in HTLV-1 disease progression. Immune response associated genes may be biomarker for prognosis in cancer development and therapeutic targets.