Investigation of Novel Regulators of the COPD Development Based on Systems Biology Approaches: A WGCNA Study

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a well-known chronic disease, which isthe third worldwide disease-related leading cause of death. A complex combination of factors over a longtime prepares conditions for emergence of this progressing disease. Understanding genetic basics andbehavior of the major actors of the disease including immune systems Polymorphonuclear Cells (PMNCs),sheds light on turning points of COPD development.Method: To achieve the goal, different transcriptomics containing databases were surveyed to find properCOPD containing microarray data. Chosen dataset (GSE۴۲۰۵۷) was submitted to analyze with WGCNA andLimma, in order to find co-expressed genes as well as relationship between modules and clinical traits andpossible differentially expressed genes, respectively.Results: Data analysis with Limma was unable to present any possible Differentially Expressed Gene (DEG).However, expression network analysis revealed prominent hub genes as well as strong relationships betweensome identified modules and Eigengenes with clinical variables. It is revealed that two highly altered modulescontaining mostly inflammatory and remodeling pathways are highly related with BMI and golden stages ofCOPD.Conclusion: It is interesting that cellular integrity control genes such as tubulin proteins(TUBA۱A),aquaporins (AQP۱), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), and Nitric Oxide Synthase ۲(NOS۲)are also discovered to be significantly involved in the pathogenesis of the process.

Keywords:

COPD , WGCNA , Module , PMNC