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. 2023 Dec 1;33(4):264-271.
doi: 10.5152/pcp.2023.22488. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Identification and Analyses of Crucial Genes Associated with Pathogenesis of Major Depressive Disorder

Jiao Li  1 , Qing Ma  2 , Ming Ai  3
Affiliations

Identification and Analyses of Crucial Genes Associated with Pathogenesis of Major Depressive Disorder

Jiao Li et al. Psychiatry Clin Psychopharmacol. .

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder is a debilitating mental condition that causes severe disability leading to a high fatality rate. No valid blood-based biomarkers for major depressive disorder are currently available. The purpose of this research is to investigate gene biomarkers and pathways that may be linked to major depressive disorder pathogenesis.

Methods: Two microarray databases were retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus for screening of candidate differentially expressed genes. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses were performed followed by protein-protein interaction network of differentially expressed genes.

Results: About 1181 differentially expressed genes were identified from the microarray databases. Gene Ontology analyses indicated that these differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in mRNA splicing via spliceosome, neutrophil degranulation, peptide antigen assembly with MHC class II protein complex, and immunoglobulin production-mediated immune response. The most enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway terms of the 10 significant were Hematopoietic cell lineage. About 20 genes were identified as hub genes after pathway analyses, mostly involved in colorectal cancer and the composition of ribosomes and protein processing, including KRAS, CD86, RPL9, RPL3, and RPL18.

Conclusion: New candidate genes have been identified using bioinformatic approaches that suggest their involvement in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder and serve as potential genetic diagnostic markers as well as new therapeutic targets.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic diagram of the methods applied in this study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Enrichment bar chart showing distributional status of the GO annotations for MDD. BP, biological process; CC, cellular component; GO, Gene Ontology; MF, molecular function; MDD, major depressive disorder.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
The top 10 KEGG pathways of DEGs. DEGs, differentially expressed genes; KEGG, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
A PPI network including 98 nodes and 232 edges. The DEGs are represented by yellow nodes, while their interactions are shown by green edges: A, B, C, and D were 4 significant modules obtained from the PPI network. DEGs, differentially expressed genes; PPI, protein–protein interaction.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Twenty hub genes determined by cytoHubba plug-in. The redder the color, the higher the correlation score.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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