Bioinformatics Analysis Reveals Significant Genes and Pathways to Targetfor Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to explore the molecular mechanisms in the process of oral squamouscells carcinoma (OSCC) development.
Method: We downloaded the affymetrix microarray data GSE31853 andidentified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OSCC and normal tissues. Then Gene Ontology (GO)and Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) networks analysis was conducted to investigate the DEGs at the functionlevel.
Results: A total 372 DEGs with logFC| >1 and P value < 0.05 were obtained , including NNMT, BAX,MMP9 and VEGF. The enriched GO terms mainly were associated with the nucleoplasm, response to DNAdamage stimuli and DNA repair. PPI network analysis indicated that GMNN and TSPO were significant hubproteins and steroid biosynthesis and synthesis and degradation of ketone bodies were significantly dysregulatedpathways.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the genes and pathways identified in our work may play critical rolesin OSCC development. Our data provides a comprehensive perspective to understand mechanisms underlyingOSCC and the significant genes (proteins) and pathways may be targets for therapy in the future.