Findings of new biomarkers for non-obstructive azoospermia by gene expression profile / 临床检验杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression of differential genes in testicular tissue of patients with obstructive and non-ob-structive azoospermia by bioinformatics,and provide new markers for the diagnosis of non-obstructive azoospermia(NOA).Methods The microarray data of azoospermia related genes(GSE45885 and GSE9210)were downloaded from the gene expression comprehensive database(GEO)and analyzed online by GEO2R,and the NOA related differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were obtained.The common DEGs were determined by using Wayne's intersection.GO annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis of DEGs were carried out by using R software.The DEGs-related protein interaction network(PPI)was constructed with STRING.Then,the most significant Hub gene of NOA was screened out by Cytoscape software and visualization was performed.The diagnostic value of Hub gene for NOA was estimated by the receiver operating characteristics(ROC)curve and verified in GSE145467 data set.Results A total of 83 DEGs were obtained,of which 78 were down-regulated and 5 were up-regulated.GO enrichment analysis showed that DEGs was involved in biological processes(BP),including the development and differentiation of sperm cells,development of germ cells,assembly of motor cilia,etc.Cell composition(CC)mainly included sperm flagella,motor cilia,acrosome vesicles,spermatogenic nuclei,etc.Molecular function(MF)mainly included structural components,protein binding,heat shock protein binding and so on,which endowed com-pressive strength for extracellular matrix.KEGG-related pathways were involved in longevity regulation pathways,cell cycle and apopto-sis,and meiosis of oocytes in multiple species.The five Hub genes closely related to NOA,including SPAG5,CCNB2,AURKC,NCAPH and PTTG1,were screened by PPI network.The ROC curve showed that all the five Hub genes were potential genetic markers of NOA.Conclusion SPAG5,CCNB2,AURKC,NCAPH and PTTG1 genes may play the key role in the development of NOA and may be used as the new biomarkers for NOA.