Abstract. Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory, immune-mediated skin disease with a high incidence worldwide. It is a multifactorial disease and its exact pathogenesis has remained largely elusive. The purpose of the present study was to uncover the key pathways and genes associated with the incidence of psoriasis. Gene expression profiles (dataset no. GSE13355) were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. Differentially expressed genes between skin samples from patients with lesional psoriasis or non-lesional psoriasis and those of normal healthy controls were identified using Bioconductor version 2.13 based in R. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways significantly enriched in patients with lesional psoriasis were identified using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Key KEGG pathways were then identified using leading-edge analysis of the results of GSEA. Differentially expressed genes involved in the significantly enriched KEGG pathways were considered as key genes. Several KEGG pathways which are known to be associated with lesional psoriasis, including autoimmune thyroid disease signaling, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity signaling, as well as several novel pathways, including FCγR-mediated phagocytosis and neurotrophin signaling pathway, were identified. Several verified and novel genes were also got. The present study revealed key pathways and genes associated with psoriasis, which may serve as important biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis.

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Global efforts have been undertaken to define the genome‐wide distribution of epigenetic markers in cancerous tissues, which provide an invaluable opportunity to understand cancer biology and identify predictive signatures. Several studies have focused on the gene expression patterns of squamous carcinoma to identify tumor subtypes and find prognostic and therapeutic targets because squamous carcinoma genomes showed high instability. However, the number of reliable reports referring prognostic significance of genes and their role in squamous carcinoma is still quite limited. Krüppel‐like factor 7 (KLF7) is a transcription factor that is widely expressed in numerous human tissues at low levels. Members of the KLF family have established roles in tumor cell fate, stress response, cell survival and the tumor‐initiating properties of cancer stem‐like cells. Hence to investigate whether KFL7 expression from cancer tissue holds promise as a prognostic and/or therapeutic target, we analyzed gene expression profiles from squamous carcinoma and surgical margin tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas. We identified significant up‐regulation of KLF7 in squamous carcinoma, which was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Elevated KLF7 expression was associated with poor squamous carcinoma prognosis before and after correcting for confounding factors by multivariate Cox regression analysis. Several pathways, such as Neurotrophin and GnRH pathways, were activated in KLF7‐up‐regulated squamous carcinoma samples through Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. In conclusion, we consolidate the potential role(s) of KLF7 in squamous carcinoma carcinogenesis from The Cancer Genome Atlas surgical margin tissue, offering insights into expression signatures that are potentially useful for prognosis modalities.

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