EGFR and JAK2 were significant master gene biomarkers in invasive and noninvasive pituitary adenoma

Abstract

The pituitary adenoma (PA) is a common benign tumor of the pituitary gland. Pituitary tumors and healthy tissues, as well as different types of tumors, have distinct metabolite profiles. However, noninvasive to invasive transcriptional alterations, widely assumed to be therapeutic targets, have not yet been characterized. We describe the comprehensive identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between tumors and controls, using microarray data for 70 samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, spanning the four most frequent tumor subtypes. There were a total of 940 DEGs unique to prolactin tumors, 437 DEGs unique to nonfunctional tumors, and 217 DEGs shared by all four categories. Many relevant biological functions were altered, as revealed by functional enrichment analysis. Involvement in cell cycle, AGE-RAGE, NF Kappa B, cytokine–cytokine interaction, and B- and T-cell receptors signaling were identified as significant pathways in high-expression genes. In contrast, the extracellular matrix, RAS signaling, breast cancer-related pathways, focal adhesion, RAP1 signaling, axon guidance, and RNA degradation were identified as significant pathways in low-expression genes. Also, EGFR and JAK2 had a prominent role in the invasion of PA. By performing a thorough bioinformatics analysis of the transcriptomics data available for PA, we were able to isolate a subset of metabolically related DEGs that may represent novel and highly promising treatment targets.

Keywords

bioinformatics analysis / biomarkers / invasive / noninvasive / pituitary adenoma

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2024 The Author(s). Precision Medical Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu Cancer Hospital.