The present study investigates the role of network topology in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) development. Analysis of sex- and stage-specific whole-genome expression data revealed that co-expressed and highly connected prognostic genes common to all cancer stages form a small-world network in each stage of LUAD. These small-world networks are present within stage-specific scale-free networks, conserved across the cancer stages, and linked to cancer-specific events. The presence of small-world networks across the cancer stages presents a synchronized system in the disordered environment of cancer, resulting in the evolution of malignancy. Our study reported that these small-world networks are resilient to random and systematic attacks, indicating the least opportunity to introduce perturbations by drugs as a therapeutic intervention. We concluded that highly clustered small-world networks could be controlled through transcriptional modulation for the improved treatment of LUAD.

本研究调查网络拓扑在肺腺癌 (LUAD) 发展中的作用。对性别和阶段特异性全基因组表达数据的分析表明，所有癌症阶段共有的共表达和高度连接的预后基因在 LUAD 的每个阶段形成一个小世界网络。这些小世界网络存在于特定阶段的无标度网络中，在整个癌症阶段都是保守的，并与癌症特定事件相关联。跨癌症阶段的小世界网络的存在在癌症的无序环境中呈现出一个同步系统，从而导致恶性肿瘤的演变。我们的研究报告称，这些小世界网络对随机和系统攻击具有弹性，表明通过药物引入扰动作为治疗干预的机会最少。