Identification of key genes and upstream regulators in ischemic stroke

Introduction Ischemic stroke (IS) causes severe neurological impairments and physical disabilities and has a high economic burden. Our study aims to identify the key genes and upstream regulators in IS by integrated microarray analysis. Methods An integrated analysis of microarray studies of IS was performed to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in IS compared to normal control. Based on these DEGs, we performed the functional annotation and transcriptional regulatory network constructions. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to verify the expression of DEGs. Results From two Gene Expression Omnibus datasets obtained, we obtained 1526 DEGs (534 up-regulated and 992 down-regulated genes) between IS and normal control. The results of functional annotation showed that Oxidative phosphorylation and Alzheimer's disease were significantly enriched pathways in IS. Top four transcription factors (TFs) with the most downstream genes including PAX4, POU2F1, ELK1, and NKX2-5. The expression of six genes (ID3, ICAM2, DCTPP1, ANTXR2, DUSP1, and RGS2) was detected by qRT-PCR. Except for DUSP1 and RGS2, the other four genes in qRT-PCR played the same pattern with that in our integrated analysis. Conclusions The dysregulation of these six genes may involve with the process of ischemic stroke (IS). Four TFs (PAX4, POU2F1, ELK1 and NKX2-5) were concluded to play a role in IS. Our finding provided clues for exploring mechanism and developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for IS.