Determination of key genes and cellular signaling pathways involved in the resistance of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to Helicobacter pylori eradication treatment

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common invasive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is a strong relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and the occurrence of this malignancy. It has been seen that some patients with DLBCL in the early stages respond well to Helicobacter pylori eradication treatment, but others are resistant to it. Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge about the occurrence of this resistance, it is necessary to identify mechanisms of resistance.

The gene expression data of sensitive and resistant patients were obtained from GEO site. After determining the genes with altered expression, in order to identify the key genes, the protein interaction network was constructed and the important genes were filtered based on the network centrality indices. Finally, cellular signaling pathways associated with key genes were determined.

CXCL8, EGFR, FN1, ICAM1, IL1B, TLR2, TLR4, TNF and VEGFA genes were identified as highly important genes according to the network analysis and the results obtained from the pathway enrichment analysis. Key genes showed a significant relationship with functions related to the regulation of immune cells activation.

The results obtained from this study show the significant role of cell functions related to surface receptors and also the regulation of immune cells activation in the occurrence of resistance to treatment. The genes and cellular pathways identified in this study can be used as therapeutic targets and biomarkers for diagnosis, determination of the appropriate treatment method for the patients and prognosis.