Identification of the Gene Network in the Progress and Development of Pterygium

Abstract

The prevalence of pterygium was 12%. Pterygium have been a common ophthalmic disease in the whole world, but its mechanism is still unclear. To comprehensively understand the reasons for the formation and progress of pterygium, here we analyzed the difference in transcriptomes between pterygium and healthy conjunctiva. Using the database of GSE51995 and GSE183153.We queried all data sets involving pterygium studies in GEO. GO annotation, KEGG pathway, and PPI enrichment analysis were used in the exploration of the mechanism. Then we validated the transcription level of the key network node genes with qRT-PCR. We identified 143 down-regulated genes and 221 up-regulated genes, and the bioinformatic analysis and qPCR validation confirmed 10 up-regulated and 7 down-regulated genes, what related AGER, ECM, estrogen and cAMP. We comprehensively analyzed two pterygium transcriptome data sets, GSE51995 and GSE183153. The PPI analysis result and the further qPCR result suggested that the AGER-RAGE pathway, ECM-receptor interaction, estrogen receptor pathway, and cAMP signal pathway might be involved in pterygium progression and development.