Abstract:

BACKGROUND: RACK1 is strongly associated with the occurrence and development of oral squamous cell carcinoma. However, the occurrence and development of tumor do not depend on a gene or protein, but a long-term complex process of a network structure of multiple genes and multiple molecules, multi-step, multi-stage joint action. Synergism between tumor genes promotes the formation and development of tumor cells. Therefore, we cannot limit on a single gene or protein to discover the action mechanism of oral squamous cell carcinoma, but should pay attention on signaling network path related to differential protein or gene, investigate the alterations in related protein or gene expression in the whole signaling pathway, and analyze the action mechanism of the interaction of these molecules.
OBJECTIVE: To screen differential genes related to oral squamous cell carcinoma, construct an interaction network through bioinformatics using STRING database, and provide clues for future tests.
METHODS: In accordance with our previous classic proteomics results and microarray results of oral squamous cell carcinoma, genes with consistent expression and big differences were selected as differential genes. The differential genes were inputted into the database of STRING to find the possible relationship among the protein subunits and to construct network structure of their interaction.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The 19 differential proteins of oral squamous cell carcinoma construct a complicated net work, and the differential proteins interact through these networks. GNB2L1-encoded RACK1 is a node protein and interacts with other differential proteins via WD40 repeated protein (number COG2319) and β-G protein subunit (number KOG0279). WD40 repeated protein (number COG2319) interacts with 5 differential proteins directly and constructs 10 interacting pathways. β-G protein subunit (number KOG0279) interacts with 8 differential proteins directly, which has 11 interacting pathways. We make a network structure picture based on the interaction of these 19 differential genes by the analysis of the STRING database. The results show that the two subunits of RACK1 protein have direct interaction with 8 differential proteins and have 18 interaction pathways on the picture. As a result, RACK1 is the core protein of the network, suggesting RACK1 is the key node protein in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Key words: Oral Sprays, Databases, Protein, Gene Regulatory Networks, Neoplasms