title: Identification of neuron-related genes for cell therapy of neurological disorders by network analysis.
abstract: Bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) differentiated into neurons have been widely proposed for use in cell therapy of many neurological disorders. It is therefore important to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this differentiation. We screened differentially expressed genes between immature neural tissues and untreated BMSCs to identify the genes responsible for neuronal differentiation from BMSCs. GSE68243 gene microarray data of rat BMSCs and GSE18860 gene microarray data of rat neurons were received from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Transcriptome Analysis Console software showed that 1248 genes were up-regulated and 1273 were down-regulated in neurons compared with BMSCs. Gene Ontology functional enrichment, protein-protein interaction networks, functional modules, and hub genes were analyzed using DAVID, STRING 10, BiNGO tool, and Network Analyzer software, revealing that nine hub genes, Nrcam, Sema3a, Mapk8, Dlg4, Slit1, Creb1, Ntrk2, Cntn2, and Pax6, may play a pivotal role in neuronal differentiation from BMSCs. Seven genes, Dcx, Nrcam, sema3a, Cntn2, Slit1, Ephb1, and Pax6, were shown to be hub nodes within the neuronal development network, while six genes, Fgf2, Tgfβ1, Vegfa, Serpine1, Il6, and Stat1, appeared to play an important role in suppressing neuronal differentiation. However, additional studies are required to confirm these results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075029, China.
authors.forename: Li-Ning
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075029, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075029, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075029, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D051381:Rats; D012984:Software; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: Neuronal differentiation; Bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs); Protein-protein interaction network; Differentially expressed genes