Pathway analysis detect potential mechanism for familial combined hyperlipidemia

BACKGROUND: Familial com - bined hyperlipidemia (FCHL) is the most common - ly inherited hyperlipidemia in men. It constitutes a substantial risk factor for atherosclerosis patients. AIM : To delineating the potential mechanism of FCHL by bioinformatics tools. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network was constructed to identify the potential functional proteins and their interactive relationships in fa - milial combined hyperlipidemia. RESULTS: Our results showed that androgen re - ceptor (AR) might play an important role in familial combined hyperlipidemia by interaction with TGIF1, NR3C1, KLK2, etc. Some pathways were also iden - tified, such as Hedgehog signaling pathway, Phos - phatidylinositol signaling system, and Long-term depression, which were all demonstrated partici - pating in lipid metabolism in previous experiments. CONCLUSIONS: Although lack of direct evi - dence, by PPI network construction it proved AR is a key factor in FCHL, and also demonstrated that PPI network construction is an alternative av - enue for FCHL analysis.