Statistical Identification of Significant Genes to Control Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN) is a side effect of chemotherapy that can lead to symptoms ranging from numbness and pain to organ failure or paralysis. CIPN can lead to a need to reduce or stop the chemotherapy, which can negatively affect the cancer treatment. By running differential gene expression analysis (DESeq2) on RNA-Seq data of 5 samples from the stem cell line BIHi005-A, it was possible to find which genes are highly over- or under- regulated in patients that develop CIPN. After comparing the mechanisms of CIPN with the significant genes (p-value 0.05), 11 genes that had a direct connection to CIPN were identified. As this research is continued into other chemotherapy side effects, such as cardiomyopathy, the information will allow better personalized care of cancer in deciding whether or not to use chemotherapy and which chemotherapy to use.