Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and drug-gene interaction bioinformatics uncover key genes associated with various presentations of malaria infection in African children and major drug candidates.

Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and drug-gene interaction bioinformatics uncover key genes associated with various presentations of malaria infection in African children and major drug candidates. Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Jan 11;:104723 Authors: Nambou K, Nie X, Tong Y, Anakpa M Abstract Malaria is a fatal parasitic disease with unelucidated pathogenetic mechanism. Herein, we aimed to uncover genes associated with different clinical aspects of malaria based on the GSE1124 dataset that is publicly accessible by using WGCNA. We obtained 16 co-expression modules and their correlations with clinical features. Using the MCODE tool, we identified THEM4, STYX, VPS36, LCOR, KIAA1143, EEA1, RAPGEF6, LOC439994, ZBTB33, PTPN22, ESCO1, and KLF3 as hub genes positively associated with Plasmodium falciparum infection (ASPF). These hub genes were involved in the biological processes of endosomal transport, regulation of natural killer cell proliferation, and KEGG pathways of endocytosis and fatty acid elongation. For the purple module negatively correlated with ASPF, we identified 19 hub genes that were involved in the biological processes of positive regulation of cellular protein catabolic process and KEGG pathways of other glycan degradation. For the salmon module positively correlated with severe malaria anemia (SMA), we identified 17 hub genes that were among those driving the biological processes of positive regulation of erythroc...
Source: Infection, Genetics and Evolution - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Infect Genet Evol Source Type: research