Pathway crosstalk analysis based on protein-protein network analysis in prostate cancer

J.-M. Wang, J.-T. Wu, D.-K. Sun, P. Zhang, L. Wang

Department of Urology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China. wanglin2688@hotmail.com

 

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• Oncology

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is a highly prevalent disease in older men of the western world and overall greatly affects the quality of life of elderly people.

AIM: Understanding the mechanism of prostate cancer onset and metastasis is the key to treating this disease successfully and increasing survivability.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we constructed crosstalk networks among prostate cancer (primary and metastatic) related pathways by integrating protein-protein interactions (PPI) and KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) pathways information. Total 11 pathways crosstalk with each other in primary prostate cancer and 7 pathways crosstalk with each other in metastatic prostate cancer.

RESULTS: Among these pathways, Notch signaling pathway and chemokine signaling pathway were found regulate multiple processes during prostate cancer progression.

CONCLUSIONS: Results from these studies will provide the groundwork for a combination therapy approach targeting multiple pathways which will likely be more effective than targeting one pathway alone.

 

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