Identification of Key mRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNA-miRNA Network Involved in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Background: In the past decades, the incidence of thyroid cancer (TC) has been gradually increasing, owing to the widespread use of ultrasound scanning devices. However, the key mRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNA-miRNA network in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has not been fully understood. Methods: In this study, multiple bioinformatics methods were employed, including differential expression analysis, gene set enrichment analysis, and miRNA-mRNA interaction network construction. Results: Firstly, we investigated the key miRNAs that regulated significantly more differentially expressed genes based on GSEA method. Secondly, we searched for the key miRNAs based on the mRNA-miRNA interaction subnetwork involved in PTC. We identified hsa-mir-1275, hsa-mir-1291, hsa-mir-206 and hsa-mir-375 as the key miRNAs involved in PTC pathogenesis. Conclusion: The integrated analysis of the gene and miRNA expression data not only identified key mRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNA-miRNA network involved in papillary thyroid carcinoma, but also improved our understanding of the pathogenesis of PTC.