Comprehensive analysis of lumbar disc degeneration and autophagy-related candidate genes, pathways, and targeting drugs

BACKGROUND: Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) is an essential pathological mechanism related to low back pain. Current research on spinal surgery focused on the sophisticated mechanisms involved in LDD, and autophagy was regarded as an essential factor in the pathogenesis. OBJECTIVES: Our research aimed to apply a bioinformatics approach to select some candidate genes and signaling pathways in relationship with autophagy and LDD and to figure out potential agents targeting autophagy- and LDD-related genes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Text mining was used to find autophagy- and LDD-related genes. The DAVID program was applied in Gene Ontology and pathway analysis after selecting these genes. Several important gene modules were obtained by establishing a network of protein-protein interaction and a functional enrichment analysis. Finally, the selected genes were searched in the drug database to find the agents that target LDD- and autophagy-related genes. RESULTS: There were 72 genes related to “autophagy” and “LDD.” Three significant gene modules (22 genes) were selected by using gene enrichment analysis, which represented 4 signaling pathways targeted by 32 kinds of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The interactions between drugs and the genes were also identified. CONCLUSION: To conclude, a method was proposed in our research to find candidate genes, pathways, and drugs which were involved in autophagy and LDD. We discovered 22 genes, 4 pathways, and 32 potential agents, which provided a theoretical basis and new direction for clinical and basic research on LDD.