Title: Identification of potential biomarkers in nasopharyngeal carcinoma based on protein interaction analysis

Authors: Yulanda Antonius; Didik Huswo Utomo; Widodo

Addresses: Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145, Indonesia ' Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145, Indonesia ' Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145, Indonesia

Abstract: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is malignant tumour that strongly related to Epstein-Barr virus infection. Several methods are available for diagnosis but it only indicates the viral titre. This research aims to identify new potential biomarker and those contributions in NPC signalling pathway. Biomarker was identified by topological analysis, modularity analysis and functional analysis using Cytoscape 3.2.1. Furthermore, biomarkers' candidate expression was confirmed by microarray data from NCBI and analyzed by non-paired t-test. The results showed four potential biomarkers with the highest value in each parameter of topological analysis such as RPA1, USP7, UBC and TERF2, but only RPA1 included in protein module with the highest score of 4.526, while UBC and TERF2 involved in protein module with lower score. Moreover, RPA1 has high expression in NPC samples (p < 0.05; FC = 1.07) and mainly related to cell cycle pathway. This study might help to understand the NPC mechanism and develop an appropriate treatment.

Keywords: biomarker; latent protein; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; protein analysis; protein network; tumourigenesis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2017.087385

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2017 Vol.13 No.4, pp.376 - 388

Received: 12 Feb 2016
Accepted: 03 Sep 2016
Published online: 14 Oct 2017 *

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