Title: Unravelling the functionally enriched HUB gene targets of Alzheimer's disease: a bioinformatics approach

Authors: Polani B. Ramesh Babu; A. Kumaravel; Subbiah Suresh Kumar; Prabhu Manickam Natarajan

Addresses: Center for Materials Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India ' Department of Information Technology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India ' Center for Global Health Research, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Services, Chennai, India ' Department of Clinical Sciences, Centre of Medical and Bio Allied Health Sciences, College of Dentistry, Ajman University, Ajman, UAE

Abstract: Alzheimer disease (AD) is a complex neurological disorder for which suitable therapeutic approaches are not yet developed. Identifying a crucial functional protein using gene ontology (GO) tools and protein protein interaction (PPI) analysis is a promising approach in finding a potential protein drug target. We selected 48 crucial genes previously proven as HUB genes associated with AD symptoms and ranked them based on their functional enrichments analysis. We identified 14 HUB genes with high functional enrichments scores in carbohydrate metabolism associated with gluconeogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, energy metabolisms, a few signalling pathways, MTOR, AMPK, H1F1 pathways in certain infections and cancers. PPI analysis across different GO databases indicated ENO1, ENO2, PFKM, GP1, ALDOC, MDH1 and GAPDH as top ranked targetable HUB genes majorly associated with the abnormalities of neuronal glucose metabolism in the early onset of AD, which could potentially be used as therapeutic targets in disease management of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer's; HUB genes; gene ontology; protein-protein interactions; PPI; protein targets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2025.150109

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2025 Vol.21 No.6, pp.657 - 680

Received: 27 Oct 2023
Accepted: 23 Apr 2024
Published online: 01 Dec 2025 *

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