Roundabout signaling pathway involved in the pathogenesis of COPD by integrative bioinformatics analysis.

Purpose: To explore the potential mechanism underpinning the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to investigate the role of the Roundabout signaling pathway in COPD.

Methods: Three microarray datasets (GSE1650, GSE38974 and GSE76925) including 139 cases of severe COPD and 52 cases of normal smokers without carcinoma, were integrated to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using bioinformatics methods. Gene ontology (GO) annotations and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway of the DEGs were performed by a DAVID online tool.