Screening Of Key Genes And Pathways In The Progression Of Cervical Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions Based On GEO Database

Objective: Based on the GEO database,we searched for key genes and pathways in the progression of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions.The key genes obtained were verified with transcriptome sequencing data.The relationship between key genes and FIGO stage was further explored in cervical cancer.Methods: The gene expression profile of three data sets GSE63514,GSE27678 and GSE7803 were downloaded from the GEO database.And the data were processed by a standardized process.Heterogeneity analysis was performed on different groups of cervical lesions.Bioinformatics methods were used to screen for key genes and pathways in the progression of cervical lesions.The relationship between the expression of key genes and the grade of cervical lesions was analyzed and validated using transcriptome sequencing data of the previous project.The relationship between the expression of key genes and FIGO stage was further analyzed in cervical cancer.Results: Heterogeneity analysis showed a significant increase in heterogeneity as cervical lesions progressed to cervical cancer.The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis based on differentially expressed genes suggested that the IL-17 signaling pathway may be an important pathway in the malignant progression of cervical lesions;the MAPK signaling pathway may be associated with the occurrence of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions.Four key genes(Hub Gene)—AURKA,TOP2 A,CEP55 and RFC4—were obtained with protein-protein interaction network analysis and key genes screening.The level of Hub genes expression was positively correlated with the grade of cervical lesions.And the same results were verified in transcriptome sequencing data.The analysis of the relationship between the expression of Hub genes and FIGO stage of cervical cancer showed that: There was no significant difference in the level of Hub genes expression among cervical cancer tissues with different FIGO stages.Conclusions: AURKA,TOP2 A,CEP55 and RFC4 are closely related to the malignant progression of cervical lesions.They may be therapeutic targets for cervical cancer or molecular markers for cervical lesion diagnosis.They also may be used to predict the probability of malignant progression of LSIL and improve the accuracy of cervical cancer screening.