Gene modules and genes associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation: weighted gene co-expression network analysis and circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network analysis

Xiaomeng Chen; Huaiguang Tang; Kongmiao Lu; Zhaozhuo Niu; Wei Sheng; Ho Young Hwang; Philip Y K Pang; Joseph D Phillips; Ali Khoynezhad; Xiaolu Qu; Bingong Li; Wei Han

doi:10.21037/jtd-23-1179

Gene modules and genes associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation: weighted gene co-expression network analysis and circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network analysis

J Thorac Dis. 2023 Sep 28;15(9):4949-4960. doi: 10.21037/jtd-23-1179. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Authors

Xiaomeng Chen^#^{1

2}, Huaiguang Tang^#^{1

2}, Kongmiao Lu^#³, Zhaozhuo Niu⁴, Wei Sheng⁴, Ho Young Hwang⁵, Philip Y K Pang⁶, Joseph D Phillips⁷, Ali Khoynezhad⁸, Xiaolu Qu³, Bingong Li^{1

2}, Wei Han³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
² Department of Cardiology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
³ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
⁴ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
⁵ Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Section of Thoracic Surgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 1 Medical Center Dr., Lebanon, NH, USA.
⁸ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute, Long Beach, CA, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common complication in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. However, the pathogenesis of postoperative AF (POAF) is elusive, and research related to this topic is sparse. Our study aimed to identify key gene modules and genes and to conduct a circular RNA (circRNA)-microRNA (miRNA)-messenger RNA (mRNA) regulatory network analysis of POAF on the basis of bioinformatic analysis.

Methods: The GSE143924 and GSE97455 data sets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were analyzed. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify the key gene modules and genes related to POAF. A circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was also built according to differential expression analysis. Functional enrichment analysis was further performed according to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis.

Results: WGCNA identified 2 key gene modules and 44 key genes that were significantly related to POAF. Functional enrichment analysis of these key genes implicated the following important biological processes (BPs): endosomal transport, protein kinase B signaling, and transcription regulation. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network suggested that KLF10 may take critical part in POAF. Moreover, 2 novel circRNAs, hsa_circRNA_001654 and hsa_circRNA_005899, and 2 miRNAs, hsa-miR-19b-3p and hsa-miR-30a-5p, which related with KLF10, were involved in the network.

Conclusions: Our study provides foundational expression profiles following POAF based on WGCNA. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network offers insights into the BPs and underlying mechanisms of POAF.

Keywords: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF); circular RNA-microRNA-messenger RNA network (circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network); weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA).