Functional enrichment analysis of hub genes showed that their biological processes focused on immune-related pathways, suggesting the important roles of immune cells, immune pathways and the tumor microenvironment in metastasis development.
The hub genes in the metastasis- and OVS-related co-expression modules were extracted, and the association between the hub genes and patient OVS was verified in another independent Gene Expression Omnibus dataset.
In recent decades, microRNAs (miRNAs), a type of short non-coding RNA that regulates gene expression at the post-transcription level, have been reported to participate in the regulation of many hub genes associated with tumorigenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis.
Therefore, these hub genes might be the key genes contributed to tumor progression or metastasis in PCa and provide candidate therapeutic targets for PCa.
In conclusion, this bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that DEGs and hub genes, such as BGN, might promote the development of gastric cancer, especially in tumor metastasis.