Identification of hepatocellular carcinoma-associated hub genes and pathways by integrated microarray analysis.

Aims and BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a dismal malignancy associated with multiple molecular changes. The purpose of this study was to identify the differentially expressed genes and analyze the biological processes related to HCC.Methods and Study DesignDatasets of HCC were obtained from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. Integrated analysis of differentially expressed genes was performed using the INMEX program. Then Gene Ontology enrichment analyses and pathway analysis were performed based on the Gene Ontology website and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed using the Cytoscape software; the netwerk served to find hub genes for HCC. Real-time RT-PCR was used to validate the microarray data for hub genes.ResultsWe identified 273 genes that were differentially expressed in HCC. Gene Ontology enrichment analyses revealed response to cadmium ion, cellular response to cadmium ion, and cellular response to zinc ion for these genes. Path...