Abstract
Radiotherapy-induced muscle injury (RIMI) is a major complication of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Transcription factor (TF) expression and alternative splicing are crucial events in transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation, respectively, and are known to be involved in key signaling pathways contributing to a variety of human disorders, including radiation injury. To investigate the TFs and alternative splicing events involved in RIMI, we constructed a tree shrew model as described previously in which the RIMI group received 20 Gy of irradiation on the tensor veli palatini (TVP) muscles. The irradiated muscles were evaluated by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) 6 months later, and the results compared with those for normal TVP muscles. The alt5p and alt3p events were the two main types of differentially regulated alternative splicing events (RASEs) identified via the Splice sites Usage Variation Analysis (SUVA) software, and these RASEs were highly conserved in RIMI. According to functional enrichment analysis, the differentially RASEs were primarily enriched in pathways related to transcriptional regulation. Furthermore, we identified 16 alternative splicing TFs (ASTFs) in ASTF–differentially expressed gene (DEG) networks based on co-expression analysis, and the regulatory networks were chiefly enriched in pathways linked to cell proliferation and differentiation. This study revealed that RASEs and ASTF–DEG networks may both play important regulatory roles in gene expression network alteration in RIMI. Future studies on the targeting mechanisms and early interventions directed at RASEs and ASTF–DEG networks may aid in the treatment of RIMI.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.