(1) Background: Psoriasis is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disorder of the skin, with significant morbidity, characterized by hyperproliferation of the epidermis. Even though psoriasis’ etiology is not fully understood, it is believed to be multifactorial, with numerous key components. (2) Methods: In order to cast light on the complex molecular interactions in psoriasis vulgaris at both protein–protein interactions and transcriptomics levels, we studied a set of microarray gene expression analyses consisting of 170 paired lesional and non-lesional samples. Afterwards, a network analysis was conducted on the protein–protein interaction network of differentially expressed genes based on micro- and macro-level network metrics at a systemic level standpoint. (3) Results: We found 17 top communicative genes, all of which were experimentally proven to be pivotal in psoriasis, which were identified in two modules, namely the cell cycle and immune system. Intra- and inter-gene interaction subnetworks from the top communicative genes might provide further insight into the corresponding characteristic interactions. (4) Conclusions: Potential gene combinations for therapeutic/diagnostics purposes were identified. Moreover, our proposed workflow could be of interest to a broader range of future biological network analysis studies.

中文翻译：

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使用微观和宏观级别的网络指标揭示银屑病中的顶级交流基因模块

(1)背景：银屑病是一种多因素的慢性皮肤炎症性疾病，发病率高，以表皮过度增生为特征。尽管银屑病的病因尚不完全清楚，但据信它是多因素的，具有许多关键组成部分。(2) 方法：为了在蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用和转录组学水平上阐明寻常型银屑病中复杂的分子相互作用，我们研究了一组由 170 对病变和非病变样本组成的微阵列基因表达分析。然后，基于微观和宏观水平的网络指标，从系统水平的角度对差异表达基因的蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用网络进行了网络分析。(3) 结果：我们发现了 17 个顶级交流基因，所有这些都被实验证明对银屑病至关重要，这在两个模块中被确定，即细胞周期和免疫系统。来自顶级交流基因的基因内和基因间相互作用子网络可能提供对相应特征相互作用的进一步了解。(4) 结论：确定了用于治疗/诊断目的的潜在基因组合。此外，我们提出的工作流程可能对更广泛的未来生物网络分析研究感兴趣。鉴定了用于治疗/诊断目的的潜在基因组合。此外，我们提出的工作流程可能对更广泛的未来生物网络分析研究感兴趣。鉴定了用于治疗/诊断目的的潜在基因组合。此外，我们提出的工作流程可能对更广泛的未来生物网络分析研究感兴趣。