Abstract
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a very rare malignancy; the pathogenesis of which is still not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to identify hub genes and pathways in ATC by microarray expression profiling. Two independent datasets (GSE27155 and GSE53072) were downloaded from GEO database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ATC tissues and normal thyroid tissues were screened out by the limma package and then enriched by gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analysis. The hub genes were selected by protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. A total of 141 common upregulated and 87 common downregulated genes were screened out. These DEGs were significantly enriched in the phagosome and NF-kappa B signaling pathway. Through PPI analysis, TOP2A, TYMS, CCNB1, RACGAP1, FEN1, PRC1, and UBE2C were selected as hub genes, which were highly expressed in ATC tissues. TCGA data suggested that the expression levels of TOP2A, TYMS, FEN1, and PRC1 genes were also upregulated in other histological subtypes of thyroid carcinoma. High expression of TOP2A, TYMS, FEN1, PRC1, or UBE2C gene significantly decreased disease-free survival of patients with other thyroid carcinomas. In conclusion, the present study identified several hub genes and pathways, which will contribute to elucidating the pathogenesis of ATC and providing therapeutic targets for ATC.
Highlights
Thyroid carcinoma is a common endocrine cancer accounting for approximately 1.7% of total cancer diagnoses [1]
It is very urgent to understand the pathogenesis of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), which will contribute to the discovery of the attractive therapeutic targets
We identified two significant pathways and seven hub genes (TOP2A, TYMS, CCNB1, RACGAP1, FEN1, PRC1, and UBE2C) related with ATC
Summary
Thyroid carcinoma is a common endocrine cancer accounting for approximately 1.7% of total cancer diagnoses [1]. The main histologic types of thyroid carcinoma include papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), follicular thyroid carcinoma, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). 80% of thyroid cancers are PTCs, which are usually curable with a 5-year survival of over 95% [2]. ATC constitutes only a small part (1–2%) of all thyroid carcinomas, but it is the most malignant with a median survival of 3–5 months [3, 4]. There is no standard or effective therapy for ATC. It is very urgent to understand the pathogenesis of ATC, which will contribute to the discovery of the attractive therapeutic targets
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