Differences in gene expression profiles and carcinogenesis pathways involved in cisplatin resistance of four types of cancer

Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the standard therapy used for the treatment of several types of cancer. However, its efficacy is largely limited by the acquired drug resistance. To date, little is known about the RNA expression changes in cisplatin-resistant cancers. Identification of the RNAs related to cisplatin resistance may provide specific insight into cancer therapy. In the present study, expression profiling of 7 cancer cell lines was performed using oligonucleotide microarray analysis data obtained from the GEO database. Bioinformatic analyses such as the Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway were used to identify genes and pathways specifically associated with cisplatin resistance. A signal transduction network was established to identify the core genes in regulating cancer cell cisplatin resistance. A number of genes were differentially expressed in 7 groups of cancer cell lines. They mainly participated in 85 GO terms and 11 pathways in common. All differential gene interactions in the Signal-Net were analyzed. CTNNB1, PLCG2 and SRC were the most significantly altered. With the use of bioinformatics, large amounts of data in microarrays were retrieved and analyzed by means of thorough experimental planning, scientific statistical analysis and collection of complete data on cancer cell cisplatin resistance. In the present study, a novel differential gene expression pattern was constructed and further study will provide new targets for the diagnosis and mechanisms of cancer cisplatin resistance.