BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a degenerative neurologic disease. This study aimed to undertake bioinformatics analysis using the publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to integrate mRNA expression data from patients with PD and to compare differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in tissue from the substantia nigra and whole blood from patients with PD and normal controls.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Integrated network analysis included GEO datasets to identify DEGs in the substantia nigra and whole blood of patients with PD. Bioinformatics analysis was used to identify the roles of the DEGs and included the development of protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment. Expression levels of DEGs were validated using GSE100054.

RESULTS: In patients with PD, there were 1,076 upregulated DEGs and 1,075 down-regulated DEGs in the substantia nigra tissue, and 699 upregulated and 930 down-regulated DEGs in whole blood samples. The apoptotic process, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, the Wnt signaling pathway, and the Notch signaling pathway were significantly enriched in DEGs in the substantia nigra in PD. In both the substantia nigra and whole blood, the most common DEGs were significantly enriched in lysosomes, PD, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease. SORT1 and CRYAB were the hub proteins in the network of the substantia nigra; PSMA1 and SDHA were the hub proteins in the network of whole blood in PD.

CONCLUSIONS: DEGs, including SORT1, CRYAB, PSMA1, and SDHA may have roles in the pathogenesis of PD through the MAPK, Wnt, and Notch signaling pathways.

Keywords: MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases, Databases, Genetic, Down-Regulation, Gene Expression Regulation, Gene Regulatory Networks, Protein Interaction Maps, RNA, Messenger, Substantia Nigra