Discovery Hub Genes of Radioresistance Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma using Weighted Gene Co Expression Network Analysis

To clarify the underlying mechanism of radioresistance nasopharyngeal carcinoma, we identified correlated gene modules and key genes through analyzing the gene expression omnibus dataset with the weighted gene co-expression network analysis. GSE32389 dataset were obtained from the gene expression omnibus. The weighted gene co-expression network analysis was introduced to establish a gene co-expression network and mine important gene modules and the key genes. Gene ontology enrichment was performed with the genes in modules which were related to radioresistance nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Then, we established a protein-protein interaction network with the genes in such module and identified hub genes in this protein-protein interaction network using molecular complex detection. Finally, we analyzed these hub genes overall survival using gene expression profiling interactive analysis database. Thirty five gene co-expression modules were obtained through weighted gene co-expression network analysis, genes in module had similar expression pattern. We found that module light cyan was the most correlated module to radioresistance nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Genes in this module were mainly related to cytokine production, regulation of cell activation and immune effector process. Five hub genes were discovered, namely cluster of differentiation 2 molecule, interleukin 10 receptor subunit alpha, cluster of differentiation 38 molecule, interleukin 2 receptor subunit beta and C-C motif chemokine ligand 19. In this research, we found five hub genes through analyzing the gene module which was mostly related to radioresistance nasopharyngeal carcinoma. They were involved in multiple cellular processes including cytokine production, regulation of cell activation and immune effector process. All these may improve our basic understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying radioresistance nasopharyngeal carcinoma.