Abstract
Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a type of eye disease that can cause vision loss. In recent years, many studies have attempted to investigate the major pathological processes and molecular pathogenic mechanisms of CNV. Because many diseases are related to genes, the genes associated with CNV need to be identified. In this study, we proposed a network-based approach for identifying novel CNV-associated genes. To execute such method, we first employed a protein-protein interaction network reported in STRING. Then, we applied a network diffusion algorithm, Laplacian heat diffusion, on this network by selecting validated CNV-related genes as the seed nodes. As a result, some novel genes that had unknown but strong relationships with validated genes were identified. Furthermore, we used a screening procedure to extract the most essential genes. Eleven latent CNV-related genes were finally obtained. Extensive analyses were performed to confirm that these genes are novel CNV-related genes.
Highlights
Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a typical pathogenic process that refers to the abnormal creation of blood vessels in the choroid layer of the eye
As a severe pathogenesis of one subtype of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), CNV can be clinically concomitant with various ocular symptoms such as extreme myopia and malignant myopic degeneration
We presented a computational approach to infer novel CNV-associated genes using the Laplacian heat diffusion (LHD)-based method
Summary
Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a typical pathogenic process that refers to the abnormal creation of blood vessels in the choroid layer of the eye. According to the recent epidemiological statistics provided by Lancet, more than 6 million people around the world suffered from AMD in 2015 [1]. Based on another independent survey, the prevalence of CNVassociated AMD was found to be 1.2% of all adults aged 43–86 years [2], indicating that CNV may be one of the major causes of vision loss. The major pathogenic mechanisms of CNV can be attributed to the imbalance of antiangiogenic factors and angiogenic factors [5, 6] The imbalance of these factors in the choroid may promote vasculogenesis and angiogenesis pathologically related to CNV [6]. PEDF (pigment epithelium-derived factor) [6] and VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), which are antiangiogenic and typical angiogenic factors, respectively) [5] have both been confirmed
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