Publication Cover
Inhalation Toxicology
International Forum for Respiratory Research
Volume 34, 2022 - Issue 11-12
265
Views
1
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Articles

Identification of key pathways and genes in the progression of silicosis based on WGCNA

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , & ORCID Icon show all
Pages 304-318 | Received 14 Jun 2022, Accepted 11 Jul 2022, Published online: 01 Aug 2022
 

Abstract

Silicosis, induced by inhaling silica particles in workplaces, is one of the most common occupational diseases. The prognosis of silicosis and its consequent fibrosis is extremely poor due to limited treatment modalities and lack of understanding of the disease mechanisms. In this study, a Wistar rat model for silicosis fibrosis was established by intratracheal instillation of silica (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg/mL, 1 mL) with the evidence of Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE) and Masson staining and the expressions of inflammatory and fibrotic proteins of rats’ lung tissues. RNA of lung tissues of rats exposed to 200 mg/mL silica particles and normal saline for 14 d and 28 d was extracted and sequenced to detect differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and to identify silicosis fibrosis-associated modules and hub genes by Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Predictions of gene functions and signaling pathways were conducted using Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. In this study, it has been demonstrated the promising role of the Hippo signaling pathway in silicosis fibrosis, which will be conducive to elucidating the specific mechanism of pulmonary fibrosis induced by silica and to determining molecular initiating event (MIE) and adverse outcome pathway (AOP) of silicosis fibrosis.

Acknowledgements

We appreciate Shuang Du, Liang Zhang and Zhuhai Cui from Beijing Qinglian Biotech Co., Ltd for their help and technical support.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2018ZX09711001-011) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81773474).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 389.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.