Predicting Radioresistant Biomarkers in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients Via Protein-Protein Interaction Network Analysis.

Radiotherapy as the first-line nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment provides different responses including radioresistant and radiosensitive states. In order to investigate the molecular basis of radioresistancy, protein-protein interaction network analysis of proteome data prior to therapy was performed. 20 dysregulated proteins of the patients who were radioresistant were extracted from the literature. Cytoscape and its plug-ins were used for the resistant network construction and its centrality analysis. Furthermore, ClueGO+ CluePedia application determined the most statistically significant biological processes (BP) related to the hubs. Fourteen hubs were concluded and no differentially expressed protein (DEP) was among these agents. Among the hubs, albumin (ALB) and fibronectin (FN1) were the hub-bottlenecks, and the Serpin family was present. What is more, SERPIND1 was the highest degree-valued DEP in the network. It can be concluded that the central elements of the NPC network could be noteworthy for improving the radiotherapy outcome and overcoming its limitations. However, complementary studies are required for a better understanding of their major role.