Gene expression profile and bioinformatics analysis revealed key molecular characteristics of chordoma-before and after TNF- a treatment

Background: Chordoma is a rare malignant tumor with limited treatment. Recent studies have shown that the proliferation and invasion ability of chordoma after Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) treatment is enhanced, which may activate the gene pathway involved in the development of chordoma. This study tends to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) before and after treatment of TNF-alpha in chordoma cell line, providing a new target for future molecular therapy of chordoma. Methods: The gene expression profile of GSE101867 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, and the differentially expressed genes were obtained using GEO2R. Based on the CLUEGO plugin in Cytoscape, DEGs functionality and enrichment analysis. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using Cytoscape based on data collected from the STRING online dataset. The Hub genes are selected from the CytoHubba, the first 20 genes that coexist with the KEGG tumor-related pathway. Results: A total of 560 genes, including 304 up-regulated genes and 256 down-regulated genes, were selected as DEGs. Obviously, GO analysis shows that up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs are mainly enriched in biological processes such as synaptic tissue, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix organization and skeletal system development. DEGs are mainly enriched in tumor-associated pathways such as Pi3k-akt Signal path, Rap1 signal path. Three key genes were identified: PDGFRB, KDR, FGF2. All of these genes are involved in the tumor-associated pathways described previously. Conclusion: This study is helpful in understanding the molecular characteristics of chordoma development. Hub genes PDGFRB, KDR, FGF2 and pi3k-akt signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway will become a new target for the future treatment of chordoma.