The Key Genes of Chronic Pancreatitis which Bridge Chronic Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer Can be Therapeutic Targets

An important question in systems biology is what role the underlying molecular mechanisms play in disease progression. The relationship between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer needs further exploration in a system view. We constructed the disease network based on gene expression data and protein-protein interaction. We proposed an approach to discover the underlying core network and molecular factors in the progression of pancreatic diseases, which contain stages of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer core network and key factors were revealed and then verified by gene set enrichment analysis of pathways and diseases. The key factors provide the microenvironment for tumor initiation and the change of gene expression level of key factors bridge chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Some new candidate genes need further verification by experiments. Transcriptome profiling-based network analysis reveals the importance of chronic pancreatitis genes and pathways in pancreatic cancer development on a system level by computational method and they can be therapeutic targets.