Key Risk Genes Identified From the Postmortem Brain of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder and Their Potential Clinical Applications

Abstract

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a type of emotional dysfunction, and its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. Specifically, the key molecules in depression-related brain regions that are involved in this disease and their contributions to this disease are currently unclear. Methods GSE53987 and GSE54568 were selected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The data were standardized to identify the common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the cortex of MDD patients in the two datasets. The DEGs were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. The STRING database was used to build protein‒protein interaction (PPI) networks, and the cytoHubba plugin was used to identify hub genes. Furthermore, we selected another blood transcriptome dataset that included 161 MDD and 169 control samples to explore the changes in the screened hub genes. Mices were subjected to 4 weeks of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) to establish an animal model of depression, and the expression of these hub genes in tissues of the prefrontal cortex was then detected by qRT‒PCR. We subsequently predicted the possible posttranscriptional regulatory networks and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) according to the hub genes using a few online databases. Results The analysis identified 147 upregulated genes and 402 downregulated genes were identifiedin the cortex of MDD patients compared with that of the controls.. Enrichment analyses revealed that DEGs were predominantly enriched in synapse-related cell functions, linoleic acid metabolism, and other pathways. PPI analysis identified 20 hub genes based on the total score. The changes in KDM6B, CUX2, NAAA, PHKB, NFYA, GTF2H1, CRK, CCNG2, ACER3, and SLC4A2 in the peripheral blood of MDD patients were consistent with those in the brain. Furthermore, the prefrontal cortex of mice with depressive-like behaviors showed significantly increased Kdm6b, Aridb1, Scaf11, and Thoc2 expression and decreased Ccng2 expression compared with that of normal mice, which was consistent with the results found for the human brain. Potential therapeutic candidates, such as Citron, Fructus Citri, Leaves of Panax Notoginseng, Sanchi Flower, Pseudoginseng, and Dan-Shen Root, were selected via TCM screening. Conclusions This study identified a number of novel hub genes in specific brain regions involved in the pathogenesis of MDD, which may not only deepen our understanding of depression but also provide new ideas for its diagnosis and treatment.