Our study’s goal was to screen novel biomarkers that could accurately predict the progression and prognosis of bladder cancer (BC). Firstly, we used the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset GSE37815 to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Secondly, we used the DEGs to construct a co-expression network by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) in GSE71576. We then screened the brown module, which was significantly correlated with the histologic grade (r = 0.85, p = 1e-12) of BC. We conducted functional annotation on all genes of the brown module and found that the genes of the brown module were mainly significantly enriched in “cell cycle” correlation pathways. Next, we screened out two real hub genes (ANLN, HMMR) by combining WGCNA, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and survival analysis. Finally, we combined the GEO datasets (GSE13507, GSE37815, GSE31684, GSE71576). Oncomine, Human Protein Atlas (HPA), and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset to confirm the predict value of the real hub genes for BC progression and prognosis. A gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that the real hub genes were mainly enriched in “bladder cancer” and “cell cycle” pathways. A survival analysis showed that they were of great significance in predicting the prognosis of BC. In summary, our study screened and confirmed that two biomarkers could accurately predict the progression and prognosis of BC, which is of great significance for both stratification therapy and the mechanism study of BC.
Frontiers in oncology. 2019 Oct 11*** epublish ***
Yejinpeng Wang, Liang Chen, Lingao Ju, Kaiyu Qian, Xuefeng Liu, Xinghuan Wang, Yu Xiao
Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China., Department of Biological Repositories, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China., Department of Pathology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, DC, United States.