Introducing Potential Key Proteins and Pathways in Human Laryngeal Cancer: A System Biology Approach

authors:

avatar Hassan Peyvandi a , avatar Ali Asghar Peyvandi a , avatar Akram Safaei b , avatar Mona Zamanian Azodi b , avatar Mostafa Rezaei-Tavirani b , *

Hearing Disorders Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Proteomics Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

how to cite: Peyvandi H, Peyvandi A A, Safaei A, Zamanian Azodi M, Rezaei-Tavirani M. Introducing Potential Key Proteins and Pathways in Human Laryngeal Cancer: A System Biology Approach. Iran J Pharm Res. 2018;17(1):e127500. https://doi.org/10.22037/ijpr.2018.2173.

Abstract

The most common malignant neoplasm of the head and neck region is laryngeal cancer which presents a significant international health problem. The present study aims to screen potential proteins related to laryngeal cancer by network analysis to further understanding disease pathogenesis and biomarker discovery. Differentially expressed proteins were extracted from literatures of laryngeal cancer that compare proteome profiling of patient›s tissue with healthy controls. The PPI network analyzed for up and down regulated proteins with Cytoscape Version 3.4. After PPI construction, topological properties of the two networks have been analyzed. Besides, by using MCODE. the Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, the related modules and pathways were examined. Our study screened 275 differentially changed proteins, including 136 up- and 139 down-regulated proteins. For each network, it has been considered 20 key proteins as hub and 20 as bottleneck. A number of 26 hub-bottleneck nodes is introduced for the two networks. A total of 11 modules including 6 downregulated and 5 upregulated network modules were obtained. The most significant GO function in the significant upregulated module was the RNA processing, and the most significant one in the downregulated module with highest score was the respiratory electron transport chain. Among 275 investigated proteins, 12 crucial proteins are determined that 4 of them can be introduce as a possible biomarker panel including YWHAZ, PPP2R1A, HSP90AA1, and CALM3 for human laryngeal cancer.

Introduction

The most common malignant neoplasm of the head and neck regions is laryngeal cancer which presents a significant international health problem. This type of cancer has high rate of mortality because of the poor diagnosis in early stage of the disease. Despite favorable treatment in early-stage laryngeal cancers, survival rates for advanced-stage disease are less than 50%. Surgery and chemotherapy are two suitable treatment options that are used for laryngeal cancer. However, their combination is also is used. Recently the number of patients treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy is increased (1). However, survival is decreased (2). Laryngeal cancer has been considered as a multifactorial disease associated with the interaction between environmental factors and genetic background (3). Environmental factors of laryngeal cancer are introduced as a lower consumption of vegetables and fruits, and higher consumption of milk, eggs, meat, tea, alcohol, and smoking (4). Recently, various studies have established the changes in molecular level which are associated with the development of laryngeal cancer. For example, several studies have investigated associations between CYP1A polymorphisms and laryngeal cancer risk (5). Alcohol consumption or smoking beside the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyl transferase enzyme (UGTs) rs4148323 act synergistically to increase the risk of laryngeal cancer (6). It has also reported the relationship between this type of cancer and nucleotide excision repair pathway genes such as ERCCs and XPA (7). The proteomics studies on laryngeal cancer show that the changed expression proteins regulate cellular proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis that may directly related to the pathogenesis of cancer (8). Another one reported that some significantly changed expression proteins were the products of oncogenes and others were related to signal transduction and immune defense (9). Deeb A and colleagues showed that related DNA repair pathways are curtail in larynx cancer patients (10). For better understanding of molecular mechanisms of laryngeal cancer pathogenesis, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis can provide an informative concept and detail schema (11-20). Therefore, we used a systems biology approach (based on the available proteomics literature data) as a rational strategy to reveal novel specific markers and probably therapeutic targets for laryngeal cancer.

Experimental

Data collection

In this study, the inclusion criteria were the studies on the human species using cell line and laryngeal squamous tissue samples involved in the comparison between the tumor and normal tissues. Exclusion criteria were the studies on non-human tissue and studies on samples of biological fluids, including plasma, serum, saliva, and urine. Studies only involved in comparison between the tumor tissue and tumor metastasis one. There was no limitation in methods in proteomic studies. We manually evaluated the publications in line with the above conditions; a total of 275 significantly changed expression proteinsextracted of which 136 proteins belong to up regulated protein group and 139 proteins were as down regulated proteins (See Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1

The list of up-regulated genes in tissue of human laryngeal cancer

NO.Gene nameNO.Gene nameNO.Gene nameNO.Gene name
1ACAA135EEF1D69HSPD1103PSMD2
2ACTR236EEF1G70IDH1104RAB2A
3AKR1C237EEF271IMPDH2105RAP1B
4ALB38EIF2S172ISOC2106RPL14
5ALDH3A139EIF3F73KPNB1107RPL6
6ANXA1140EIF3H74LAP3108RPS15A
7ARHGAP141EIF3I75LCP1109S100A16
8ARHGDIA42EIF4A176LDHB110S100A8
9ARHGDIB43EIF5A77LGALS7111S100A9
10ARL144ENO178LTA4H112SERPINB3
11ARPC445EPPK179MAPRE1113SF3A3
12ATIC46EPS8L180METAP1114SFPQ
13ATP6V1A47ERO1L81MPO115SND1
14BLVRB48FABP582MYL6116STAT1
15C1QBP49FBP183NAP1L1117TACSTD2
16CA250FLOT184NCL118TAGLN2
17CAND151FN185NDRG1119TALDO1
18CAP152FSCN186NDUFA8120TAPBP
19CAPN253FTL87NP121TF
20CAPNS154FUS88PABPC1122TFRC
21CCT6A55G3BP289PDIA4123TKT
22CCT756G6PD90PDXK124TLN1
23CDC3757GAPDH91PFN1125TPI1
24CES158GCN1L192PGAM1126TPT1
25CFL159GFAP93PGK1127TRAP1
26CLIC160GNAI294PGM1128TXNDC5
27CMPK161GSTP195PLEC1129TYMP
28COL12A162HADHA96PLS3130USP14
29CPSF663HIST1H1B97PPA1131VASP
30CTSB64HMGA198PPP2R1A132VCL
31CTSC65HNRNPA199PRKRA133WARS
32CYCS66HNRNPD100PRTN3134WDR1
33DHX967HNRPDL101PSMD11135XRCC5
34ECH168HSP90B1102PSMD13136YWHAZ
Table 2

The list of down-regulated genes in tissue of human laryngeal cancer

NO.Gene nameNO.Gene nameNO.Gene nameNO.Gene nameNO.Gene name
1A1BG29CORO1A57HIST1H1C85MYH11113RPS11
2A2M30CORO1C58HNRNPL86MYH7114RPS15
3ABHD14B31CRYAB59HP87MYL2115RPS9
4ACADVL32CSTB60HSDL288MYLPF116RRBP1
5ACAT133CTNND161HSP9089NDRG2117SDHA
6ACTG134CYB5R362HSPB190NDUFA10118SERPINA1
7AGR235DCN63HSPG291NDUFA12119SFN
8AK336DDOST64IARS292NDUFS2120SLC4A1
9ALDH237DLD65IGHA193OGDH121SOD1
10ANXA238DYNLL166IGHG194OGN122SOD3
11APOA139ECHS167IGKC95ORM1123SP140
12APOA240EIF3A68IMMT96ORM2124SPTAN1
13ASPN41EPHX169ITIH297PA2G4125SPTBN1
14ATP5B42ERP2970JUP98PCYOX1126SSR4
15ATP5D43EVPL71KRT1999PHB127TGFBI
16ATP5F144F13A172LAMC1100PHB2128TMED10
17ATP5O45FAU73LGALS3101PRDX3129TNNT3
18BGN46FGB74LGALS3BP102PRELP130TPM1
19C1QC47FGG75LMAN1103PSMB1131TRIM29
20C348FKBP476LMAN2104PSME2132TROVE2
21CALM149GGT577LMNA105PYCR1133U2AF1
22CALML350GLUD178LMNB1106PYGB134UNC84B
23CANX51GOT279LRP1107RAN135UQCRB
24CFH52GPD280LTF108RPL10136UQCRC1
25CFL153GRP9481LUM109RPL19137UQCRC2
26CKM54GSN82LYZ110RPL23A138VDAC1
27CKMT1A55GSTP183MARCKS111RPL9139VDAC2
28COL15A156H2AFY84MTPN112RPN1
Table 3

Presentation of the hub proteins in the up-regulated and down-regulated protein–protein interaction networks of laryngeal cancer (top 20 in each PPI network). The hub nodes that play as bottleneck node are asterisked (for more details see Table 4 and discussion

IDDegreeIDDegreeIDDegreeIDDegree
Up regulatedYWHAZ*1634CAND1*827PSMD2*636ALB*524
FN1*1538PABPC1725FUS*631NCL508
PPP2R1A*1208MAPRE1*716KPNB1*618STAT1*503
CDC37*1158HNRNPD*703DHX9554ACTR2*492
HNRNPA1*
1054
XRCC5*
661
EEF1G
538
CCT7
471
Down regulatedHSP90AA1*2019ACTG1*681RPL23A449LMNA*407
CALM3*1276P31947569CANX*427Q13813390
HSPB1*1038RPL9P9484P20618424PHB2364
RPL10*992RAN*479EIF3A412HNRNPL*351
DYNLL1*792RPS9450IGHG1*411U2AF1348
Table 4

The list of top 20 up-regulated and down-regulated genes ranked based on BC from largest to smallest values

IDBCIDBCIDBCIDBC
Up regulatedPDXK1.0HNRNPA10.07400FUS0.04727PSMD20.03599
KHC1.0CDC370.06998ENO10.04595ALB0.03178
YWHAZ0.13462GNAI20.06835HNRNPD0.03861HSPD10.03167
FN10.13420PPP2R1A0.06310ACTR20.03749XRCC50.03007
CAND1
0.07829
MAPRE1
0.04832
KPNB1
0.03667
STAT1
0.02821
Down regulatedHSP90AA10.20507DYNLL10.06243LGALS30.04051APOA10.02707
CALM30.13699C30.06131A2M0.03737IGHG10.02688
HSPB10.07676CANX0.05931RAN0.03283SOD10.02663
ACTG10.07472SFN0.04720FN10.03122HNRNPL0.02442
RPL100.06626LMNA0.04078PSMB10.02739LGALS3BP0.02210
Table 5

The modules of up regulated and down regulated PPI networks of human tissue of laryngeal cancer. The asterisked proteins are hub-bottleneck nodes

CategoryMCODE score, nodes and edgesSeedHub
Up regulatedUp-17.6, 65 and 358NPM1HNRNPD*, DHX9, FUS*, NCL and YWHAZ*
Up-25.8, 65 and 320HSPA9KPNB1*, XRCC5* and CAND1*
Up-34.0, 52 and 219NSPPP2R1A*
Up-43.8, 49 and 115----HNRNPA1*
Up-5
3.3, 13 and 44
----
ACTR2
Down regulatedDown-15.87, 65 and 219UQCRC1----
Down-24.06 , 30 and 80----RPL9P9 ,DYNLL1*
Down-34.0 , 15 and 43--------
Down-44.0 , 10 and 30----CALM3*
Down-54.0 , 18 and 80----ACTG1* , HSP90AA1*
Down-63.25, 17 and 42----PHB2, U2AF1
Table 6

GO functional enrichment analysis of up- regulated and down-regulated PPI network modules. Top three terms of each module are tabulated

CategoryTermDescription
Up regulatedUp-1GO:0006396RNA processing
GO:0000380Alternative mRNA splicing
GO:0071826Ribonucleoprotein complex subunit organization
Up-2GO:0000082G1/S transition of mitotic cell cycle
GO:0042769DNA damage response
GO:1901992Positive regulation of mitotic cell cycle phase transition
Up-3GO:0031398Positive regulation of ubiquitination
GO:0046364Monosaccharide biosynthetic process
GO:0006098Pentose-phosphate shut
Up-4GO:0008380RNA splicing
GO:0022613Ribonucleoprotein complex biogenesis

GO:0031123
RNA 3 -end processing
Down regulatedDown-1GO:0022904Respiratory electron transport chain
GO:0046034ATP metabolic process
GO:1902600Hydrogen transmembrane transport
Down-2GO:1900739Regulation of protein insertion into mitochondrial membrane involved in apoptotic signaling pathway
GO:0031110Regulation of microtubule (de) polymerization
GO:0016259Selenocystein metabolic process
Down-3GO:0010257NADH dehydrogenase complex assembly
GO:0006099Tricarboxylic acid cycle
Protein-protein interaction network for up-regulated differentially expressed proteins
in tissue of human laryngeal cancer include of 7312 nodes and 33757 edges
Up: Centrality analysis of protein-protein interaction network for down-regulated
differentially expressed proteins in tissue of human laryngeal cancer consist of 6707
nodes and 27422 edges. Down: The dense and central part of upper network is shown in
more details
Modules of the protein-protein interaction network for up-regulated differentially
expressed proteins (MCODE score > 3 and node > 6). The yellow cycles indicate seed
proteins and the pink cycles reagent proteins in modules. There are no seed in Up-4 and
Up-5 modules
Modules of the protein-protein interaction network for down-regulated differentially
expressed proteins (MCODE score > 3 and node > 6). The yellow cycles indicate seed
proteins and the pink cycles reagent proteins in modules. Only Down -1 module has seed
and the other ones have no seed

PPI network analysis

PPI network analyzed by Cytoscape Version 3.4 and Betweenness centrality (BC) and node degree the two major centrality parameters were analyzed by using a Cytoscape plug-in called ‘Network Analyzer’ (21). Degree indicates the number of connectivity belongs to a node and nodes having high degree were introduced as hub proteins. BC value the other centrality index reflects the shortest paths that pass through a node (22).

Screening of network modules and functional analysis

The modules of the two constructed networks (including up and down regulated networks) were provided by MCODE analysis and parameters including Node Score Cutoff: 0.2, K-Core: 2, Degree Cutoff: 2 and, Max depth = 100 were used as the cut-off criteria for network module screening. MCODE score > 3 and node > 6 were considered for functional enrichment analysis of the modules. Kappa statistic ≥ 0.4 and Bonferroni step down method for probability value correction were used for annotation analysis of the selected modules.

Results

After the submission of up-regulated and down-regulated proteins into Cytoscape, a total of 7312 and 6707 nodes related to the up-regulated and down-regulated proteins are included in the networks, respectively. In the final networks (Figures 1 and 2), the node›s degree was organized based on size; the nodes with high degree have bigger size and the blue to brown color represented low to high BC values for each node. \ The nodes with high degree were considered as key proteins. Then, the top 20 proteins with highest connectivity were identified as the hub proteins for each of the networks and similarly, the top 20 proteins based on betweenness centrality value were selected as bottleneck proteins (See Tables 3 and 4).

Module analysis

A total of 11 modules including 5 up-regulated and 6 down-regulated network modules were obtained using default criteria. It was selected modules with MCODE score > 3 and node > 6. Five up-regulated modules (Up, 1-5) (Figure 3), and six down-regulated modules (Down, 1-6) (Figure 4) were selected for enrichment analysis.

There were some key proteins (hubs) in total of 5 up-regulated modules and 3 up-regulated network modules among them have 3 seed proteins (see Table 5). While, in down-regulated network modules, only Down-1 module has seed. The hubs in this network are distributed as tabulated data in Table 5.

Functional enrichment analysis for modules

Four up-regulated modules (Up, 1-4) and three down-regulated modules (Down, 1-3) were enriched based on functional annotation. The top three GO terms for each module are shown in Table 6.

Discussion

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis has a significant growth in cancer studies to facilitate introducing early stage biomarkers (23). In our study, the laryngeal cancer related proteins were analyzed via PPI network construction, hub gene identification, module analysis, and functional enrichment analysis of most significant modules. These stages were carried out for up-regulated proteins and down-regulated ones in human laryngeal cancer tissue, separately. As it is shown in Tables 1 and 2, there are 275 changed expression proteins (including up and down regulated proteins) related to the human tissue of laryngeal cancer. Data management and analysis is a difficult process due to huge numbers of the collected proteins. Since PPI network analysis is a powerful method in categorization and ranking of the candidate and related proteins for a certain disease, here the up and down regulated networks are constructed separately (Figures 1 and 2). Topological analysis of the networks lead to rank of the nodes based on networks properties (18). By using two centrality indices including degree and betweenness, totally 80 nodes are selected among 275 initial proteins as important proteins (see Tables 3 and 4). However, the number of 80 nodes can not be considered as a suitable biomarker panel related to laryngeal cancer and more screening is required. The hub-bottleneck nodes for the up and down regulated networks are shown in Table 3. As it is shown in this Table there are 15 and 11 hub-bottlenecks for up and down regulated networks respectively. Module is a part of a network including closed related proteins havig specific biological function (20). Determined modules of network can provide informative perspective about different roles of the nodes (24). As it is shown in Figures 3 and 4 and Table 5 there are 5 and 6 modules for the up and down regulated networks respectively. Functional enrichment analysis for top score modules indicated that RNA processing and splicing, mitotic cell cycle regulation and sugar biosynthesis are affected by up-regulated modules while metabolic pathways and mitochondria are the main affected subjects by down regulated modules (see Table 6). The most significant pathways in four modules Up, 1-4 were RNA processing, G1/S transition mitotic cell cycle, protein ubiquitination and RNA splicing. It has been revealed overlapping between important pathways involved in the conversion of pre-mRNA to mature mRNA. In previous studies, it shows that polymorphisms of mRNA processing genes can be considered as risk factors for development of laryngeal cancer (25). The most significant pathways in down regulated modules (Down, 1-3) were respiratory electron transport chain, regulation of protein insertion in to mitochondrial membrane involved in apoptotic signaling pathway, and NADH dehydrogenase complex assembly. Proliferating cancer cells, such as laryngeal cancer, preferentially use anaerobic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation for energy production (26). In one system biology study, the glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathway has been introduced as the most important pathway in laryngeal cancer (27). Then, the production of energy from mitochondrial respiratory may shift to glycolysis in laryngeal cancer. To prove this hypothesis and determine the energy supply sources of laryngeal cancer cells, more studies are needed. Regulation of protein insertion into mitochondrial membrane involved in apoptotic signaling pathway is the other important pathway in down regulated modules. One of the mechanisms impaired cancer cells is apoptosis. Apoptosis can be activated through several different signaling pathways, but a part of this mechanism is controlled in mitochondrial membrane through insertion apoptotic proteins (28). According to these results, in laryngeal cancer, apoptotic mechanism may disturb through the impairment of transporter proteins which transform apoptotic proteins into mitochondria. According the results of Table 5, the scattering of hubs in up-modules was more than down ones. Interestingly, the finding indicate that the seeds and hubs in up-modules have the similar functions with each other that are associated with regulation of cell cycle (29, 30). Among 26 hub-bottleneck nodes 12 proteins (8 up-regulated and 4 down-regulated proteins) are distributed in 8 modules (see Table 5). These proteins are tabulated in supplementary Table S1 and are ranked based on amounts of degree value. Here two suggestions are feasible: first investigation about expression changes of these 12 genes in the field and the second idea is selection of the top up and down regulated genes for more examinations. We choose cutoff 1200 for degree and therefore YWHAZ and PPP2R1A as the top two up-regulated genes and also HSP90AA1 and CALM3 as the top two down-regulated genes are introduced as human laryngeal cancer. YWHAZ gene with the highest degree and BC scores encodes 14-3-3 protein zeta/delta that has an essential role in tumor cell proliferation (31) through the regulation of multiple cellular processes, such as cell cycle control, anti-apoptosis, signal transduction, inflammation, and cell adhesion/motility (32). YWHAZ has been introduced as candidate proto-oncogene in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma whose reduced expression causes lower level of DNA synthesis rates (33). 14-3-3 proteins could be a key regulatory components in many processes that are crucial for development of cancers (34) such as laryngeal cancer (8). PPP2R1A gene encodes one subunit of protein phosphatase 2. This protein phosphatase is involved in control of cell growth and cell division processes. The role of this subunit in integrity of enzyme is highlighted. Therefore, it is expected that PPP2R1A plays a crucial regulatory role in cell proliferation in cancer cell line(35). HSP90AA1 and CALM3 were found as two top ranked genes in the down-regulated PPI network. These proteins belong to family of proteins which involved in the regulation of specific target proteins in cell cycle control and programmed cell death (36, 37). On the other hand, CALMs in addition to cell cycle, related to centrosome cycle and deregulation of this protein can be the origin of chromosomal instability in cancer (38). Interestingly, all determined possible biomarkers are related to the cell cycle process.

Conclusion

In this study, it has been represented a model of important proteins and pathways that provide a new level of information for laryngeal cancer that increases our knowledge about diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this disease. Finally, a possible biomarker panel including YWHAZ and PPP2R1A as the two up-regulated genes and HSP90AA1 and CALM3 as the two down-regulated genes for human laryngeal cancer is introduced.

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