Biochemical pathway analysis of gastric atrophy.

Aim: Pathway analysis of gastric atrophy to find new molecular prospective of disease.

Background: Gastric atrophy as a process which is accompanied with "loss of glans" in stomach can be considered as a risk factor of gastric cancer. Here, the correlated biochemical pathways to the disorder have been analyzed via protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis.

Methods: The genes related to gastric atrophy were retrieved by STRING database and organized in a network by Cytoscape. Three significant clusters were determined by ClusterONE plug-in of Cytoscape. The elements of cluster-2 which contained all central nodes of the network were enriched by ClueGO and the biochemical pathways discussed in details.

Results: The number of seven central nodes (which are included in cluster-2); INS, TP53, IL6, TNF, SRC, MYC, and IL8 were identified. The biochemical pathways related to the elements of cluster-2 were determined and clustered in nine groups. The pathways were discussed in details.

Conclusion: Pathway analysis indicates that the introduced central genes of the network can be considered as biomarkers of gastric atrophy.