Construction of potential periodontitis-related miRNA-mRNA regulatory network

Abstract

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are found to be involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis, a major cause of tooth loss in adults. However, a comprehensive miRNA-mRNA regulatory network has still not been established. Methods One miRNA expression profile and 2 gene expression profiles were downloaded from the GEO database and analyzed using GEO2R. Candidate genes commonly appeared in differentially expressed mRNAs (DE-mRNAs) and target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNAs) were selected for functional and pathway enrichment analyses using Enrichr database. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to screen independent variables among candidate genes. The diagnostic values of screened genes were determined by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Results A total of 5 DE-miRNAs (4 upregulated and 1 downregulated) and 11 candidate genes (3 upregulated and 8 downregulated) were screened. After the construction of miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, 12 miRNA-mRNA pairs were identified. In the network, the upregulated genes were significantly enriched in cellular triglyceride homeostasis and positive regulation of B cell differentiation, whereas the downregulated genes were enriched in vesicle organization, negative regulation of lymphocyte and leukocyte migration. EPCAM and RAB30 were screened as risk factors of periodontitis. The combined AUC of these 2 genes was 0.896 (GSE10334) and 0.916 (GSE16134). Conclusion In this study, we established a potential periodontitis-related miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, which brings new insights into the molecular mechanisms and provides key clues in seeking novel therapeutic targets for periodontitis. In the future, more experiments need to be carried out to validate our current findings.