Integrated analysis of microRNA regulation of genes in HSIL

Cervical cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in women worldwide. Cervical cancer is preceded by HSIL in 20% of the cases. microRNA (miRNA) regulate the expression of a number of genes, therefore targeting miRNA and mRNA dependencies may facilitate in determining the regulatory mechanisms and molecular signatures of HSIL. miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of HSIL were analyzed to construct a miRNA-protein interaction network. Hub genes and functional modules of the interaction network were identified. KEGG pathway and disease enrichment analysis were also performed on DEGs. A miRNA-protein interaction network with 129 nodes and 363 edges was constructed. Two miRNAs namely has_miR_203 and has_miR_142_5p were found to regulate most DEGs. Two significant modules with 10 nodes and 6 nodes were identified from the network respectively. CCND1, BIRC5, PCNA, MAD2LI and NEK2 were upregulated DEGs and hubs of the network. Moreover, these five genes were also present in the significant modules. These miRNA and five genes with high connectivity might have prospective diagnostic and therapeutic values, may be associated with oncogenicity of HSIL.