Identification of Key Pathways and Genes in L4 Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) After Sciatic Nerve Injury via Microarray Analysis

ABSTRACT

Background: Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) has devastating consequences. Dorsal root ganglion as a pivotal locus participates in the process of neuropathic pain and nerve regeneration. In recent years, gene sequencing technology has seen rapid rise in the biomedicine field. So, we attempt to gain insight into in the mechanism of neuropathic pain and nerve regeneration in the transcriptional level and to explore novel genes through bioinformatics analysis. Methods: The gene expression profiles of GSE96051 were downloaded from GEO database. The gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed, and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was constructed by Cytoscape software. Results: Our results showed that both IL-6 and Jun genes and the signaling pathway of MAPK, apoptosis, P53 present their vital modulatory role in nerve regeneration and neuropathic pain. Noteworthy, 13 hub genes associated with neuropathic pain and nerve regeneration, including Ccl12, Ppp1r15a, Cdkn1a, Atf3, Nts, Dusp1, Ccl7, Csf, Gadd45a, Serpine1, Timp1 were rarely reported in PubMed database, these genes may provide us the new orientation in experimental research and clinical study. Conclusions: Our results may provide more deep insight into the mechanism and a promising therapeutic target. The next step is to put our emphasis on an experiment level and to verify the novel genes from 13 hub genes.

Keywords::

• dorsal root ganglion
• sciatic nerve injury
• microarray analysis

This article refers to:

Pain Genes?

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

CONTRIBUTORS

HZ, LJD and XY designed the article. HZ and LJD drafted the protocol and YSG, YDY, XST and DYZ is responsible for data analysis. YX and ZGH revised the manuscript independently. CHL, SXC and TL will arbitrate any disagreements during the analysis. All authors approved the publication of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The National Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Science and Technology Support This work was funded by (grant numbers: 2012BAI18B05).