Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a key role in cancer progression, especially metastasis, due to the rarity and heterogeneity of CTCs, fewer researches have been conducted on them at the molecular level. However, through the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, this kind of minority researches can be well integrated, the gene expression differences between CTCs and primary tumors can be identified, and molecular targets for CTCs can be found. We analyzed 7 sets of gene chips (GSE82198, GSE99394, GSE31023, GSE65505, GSE67982, GSE76250, GSE50746) obtained by GEO. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CTCs and corresponding primary tumors by NetworkAnalyst. Metascape tool for Gene Ontology (GO) / Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis of differential genes and visual display. Cytoscape performs protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis and obtains the hub genes. Renal cancer patients’ clinical specimens to verify the correctness of enrichment results. Prognostic analysis of hub genes in kidney cancer patients using the Kaplan–Meier plotter survival analysis tool. We obtained a total of 589 DEGs. The GO / KEGG enrichment results indicate that the DEGs are mainly concentrated in cell adhesion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and apoptosis. Renal cancer clinical specimens suggest that CTCs have epithelial and mesenchymal types. At the same time, PSMC2 can be used as a poor prognostic indicator for renal cancer patients. In summary, our study suggests that compared with primary tumors, CTCs mainly change cell adhesion, EMT, and apoptosis. PSMC2 can be used as a poor prognostic factor.

中文翻译：

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通过生物信息学分析鉴定多种癌症中循环肿瘤细胞的关键基因和功能

由于CTC的稀有性和异质性，循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）在癌症进展，尤其是转移中起着关键作用，因此在分子水平上对其进行的研究较少。但是，通过基因表达综合数据库（GEO），可以很好地整合这种少数研究，可以发现CTC与原发肿瘤之间的基因表达差异，并可以找到CTC的分子靶标。我们分析了GEO获得的7套基因芯片（GSE82198，GSE99394，GSE31023，GSE65505，GSE67982，GSE76250，GSE50746）。通过NetworkAnalyst分析CTC与相应原发肿瘤之间的差异表达基因（DEG）。Metascape工具，用于基因本体论（GO）/《京都市基因与基因组百科全书》（KEGG）对差异基因的富集分析和视觉展示。Cytoscape执行蛋白质间相互作用（PPI）分析并获得集线器基因。肾癌患者的临床标本可验证浓缩结果的正确性。使用Kaplan–Meier绘图仪生存分析工具对肾癌患者中枢基因进行预后分析。我们总共获得了589度。GO / KEGG富集结果表明DEGs主要集中在细胞粘附，上皮-间质转化（EMT）和细胞凋亡中。肾癌临床标本表明，CTC具有上皮和间充质类型。同时，PSMC2可以用作肾癌患者的不良预后指标。总之，我们的研究表明，与原发性肿瘤相比，CTC主要改变细胞粘附，EMT和凋亡。PSMC2可以用作不良预后因素。