Gene co-expression network analysis for identifying modules and functionally enriched pathways in radiation treated human colorectal cancer cell lines

Abstract

Radiotherapy is a highly effective cancer treatment method. However, the increase in repopulation of tumour cells during or after treatment suggests that cell radioresistance decreases the therapeutic effect of ionizing radiation. In order to get a better understanding of a molecular response to irradiation, we used genome wide gene expression analysis to examine 31 microarray data of 6 human colorectal cancer cell lines treated with different doses of ionizing radiation from GEO depository database. In total, we identified that the expression of 13471 genes was commonly regulated in all cell lines. Furthermore, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed 23 co-regulated modules, 5th of them are directly associated with response to ionizing radiation and possibly the acquisition of cell resistance to radiation. Thus, the identification of potential target genes might help to improve efficiency of radiotherapy.