Partial least squares based gene expression analysis in posttraumatic stress disorder

K. Dong, F. Zhang, W. Zhu, Z. Wang, G. Wang

Department of Psychology, Wuxi Mental Health Center of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China. kunlundong2013@gmail.com

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• Psychiatry

OBJECTIVE: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an adverse psychological response to traumatic events. Microarray technology for large-scale gene expression analysis facilitates the identification of signatures that underlie the pathogenesis of PTSD. Previous studies mostly used variance/regression analysis without considering array specific factors. We aim to investigate the underlying mechanism of PTSD through partial least squares (PLS) based analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: With a gene expression profile data set for 17 chronic PTSD patients and 16 controls recovered from psychological trauma from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we performed Partial Least Square (PLS) based analysis.

RESULTS: We acquired 230 down-regulated genes and 335 up-regulated genes. Significantly increased representations of dysregulated genes in immune, endocrine and nervous pathways were identified. Among the top 5 hub genes in the network, PRKCA has been reported to be related with PTSD before. Three other genes, TP53, EP300 and CALM1 might also contribute to the pathogenesis of PTSD since they are all related with other neuronal disorders.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings shed light on expression signatures of PTSD with the hope to give further theoretical supports for future therapeutic study.

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