Integrative Analysis of MAPK14 as a Potential Biomarker for Cardioembolic Stroke.

Zhao Li,Li Xu,Qingxiu Wang

doi:10.1155/2020/9502820

Abstract

The aim of this study was to obtain the candidate genes and biomarkers that are significantly related to cardioembolic stroke (CS) by applying bioinformatics analysis. In accordance with the results of the weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) in the GSE58294 dataset, 11 CS-related coexpression network modules were identified in this study. Correlation analysis showed that the black and pink modules are significantly associated with CS. A total of 18 core genes in the black module and one core gene in the pink module were determined. We then identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of CS at 3 h, 5 h, and 24 h postonset. After performing intersection, it was found that 311 genes were coexpressed at these three time points. These genes were majorly enriched in positive regulation of transferase activity and regulation of peptidase activity. The abovementioned coexpressed DEGs were subjected to protein-protein interaction analysis and subnetwork module analysis. Subsequently, we used cytoHubba to obtain 11 key genes from DEGs. The intersection of the core genes screened from WGCNA and the key genes selected from DEGs yielded the MAPK14 gene. The expression level of MAPK14 on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of CS at 3 h, 5 h, and 24 h showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.923, 0.934, and 0.941, respectively. In a nutshell, MAPK14 screened out by using WGCNA showed differential expression in CS. We conclude that MAPK14 can be used as a potential biological marker of CS and exhibits potential to predict the physiopathological condition of CS patients.

Highlights

Stroke is still a devastating neurological disease, the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of severe disability and physical impairment around the world [1]
To establish the coexpression network, the expression data of cardioembolic stroke (CS) patients and healthy controls were extracted from GSE58294, and the probes in the original expression data file were converted into 21,654 genes
After weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) coexpression network analysis of CS and the investigation of hub genes, we found that MAPK14 is the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) closely associated with CS

Summary

Introduction

Stroke is still a devastating neurological disease, the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of severe disability and physical impairment around the world [1]. According to the TOAST criteria, stroke can be mainly divided into large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), small-artery occlusion (SAO), cardioembolism (CE), stroke of other demonstrated etiology (SOE), and stroke of other undemonstrated etiology (SUE) [3]. It is of critical relevance to improve the treatment effect and prognosis of patients with stroke. Cardioembolic stroke (CS) patients account for around 20% of all patients with acute ischemic stroke [4]. As the global population continue to age, the proportion of patients with CS is likely to increase further, imposing an increasingly heavy burden on the individual, medical care, and socioeconomic levels [6]. A fraction of CS patients can improve their prognosis and prevent the recurrence of stroke by undergoing anticoagulation therapy [7]. Less than one-third of these CS patients with indications for anticoagulation have received the correct treatment [8]

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