Identification Of B-Cells Participating In Differentially-Expressed Pathways And Hub Genes In Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis

Objective: Osteoporosis (OP) can result in low bone mineral density (BMD) and reduced bone strength. This disease has been identified as a major public health problem around the world. Hence, it is necessary to find a proactive method, identifying high-risk OP patients, and to investigate the corresponding pathology. The objective of the current study was to reveal key pathways and hub genes associated with OP, utilizing Gibbs sampling. Methods: Informative pathways (IPs) with genes more than 5 were extracted, based on the KEGG database and microarray profiles. Obtained IPs were then converted into the Markov chain (MC). Afterward, Gibbs sampling was implemented to obtain a new MC. Subsequently, probabilities of IPs were counted through the MC Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, followed by detection of differentially-expressed pathways (DEPs) based on adjusted probabilities of IPs higher than 0.65. Moreover, genes enriched in the DEPs were analyzed using the same sampling strategy. Hub genes were identified based on the threshold of adjusted probabilities greater than 0.80. Results: When the gene set was 5, a total of 278 IPs were extracted. After Gibbs sampling, only 1 DEP, mineral absorption, was identified according to the adjusted alfa. pi > 0.65. Moreover, after the probability of genes in this DEP was evaluated, a total of 8 hub genes were screened out, including VDR, ACP6, FTCD, ALDOB, ATIC, ALDH3A1, MAPK3, and OXCT2. Conclusion: Comprehensive approaches, including Gibbs sampling and Markov chain, might provide good reference for OP treatment in the future. Identified DEPs and hub genes might play pivotal roles in onset and progression of OP. They may be helpful in the development of available therapeutic drugs for treatment of OP in the future.