Exploration of retinoblastoma pathogenesis with bioinformatics

BACKGROUND: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from retinoblastoma (RB) tissues play key roles in the progression of RB. However, the role of DEGs in different subtypes and stages of RB has not yet been systematically analyzed. METHODS: In this study, the DEGs for tumor and adjacent from 3 RB data sets GSE24673, GSE97508, and GSE110811 were analyzed with regard to the different subtypes and stages of the disease. RESULTS: Through comparison with adjacent tissues, a total of 78 upregulated genes and 155 downregulated genes from the RB tissues were identified across the 3 data sets. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that the 3 representative genes CDK1, CDC20, and BUB1, which were all upregulated, could promote the cell cycle in RB. Compared with adjacent tissues in GSE97508, a total of 19 gigantol-targeted genes were predicted to be upregulated in invasive RB tissues. On the other hand, DEGs for tumor and adjacent from 3 RB data sets GSE24673, GSE97508, and GSE110811 were integrated with regard to invasiveness and stages of the disease, and another 19 DEGs were subsequently identified. Among these genes, UHRF1 was the only identified upregulated gene, while the other 18 were all downregulated genes. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) experiment and GSEA results showed that UHRF1 can promote the proliferation and invasion of RB. Conversely, the downregulated representative gene CADM1 is a tumor suppressor gene, which can inhibit the progression of RB. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that the verified DEGs are continuously and consistently expressed in different subtypes and stages of RB. These DEGs may be the key to understanding the development and invasion of RB.