Background: The occurrence and development of breast cancer has a strong correlation with a person's genetics. Therefore, it is important to analyze the genetic factors of breast cancer for future development of potential targeted therapies from the genetic level.
Methods: In this study, we complete an analysis of the relevant protein-protein interaction network relating to breast cancer. This includes three steps, which are breast cancer-relevant genes selection using mutual information method, protein-protein interaction network reconstruction based on the STRING database, and vital genes calculating by nodes centrality analysis.
Results: The 230 breast cancer-relevant genes were chosen in gene selection to reconstruct the protein-protein interaction network and some vital genes were calculated by node centrality analyses. Node centrality analyses conducted with the top 10 and top 20 values of each metric found 19 and 39 statistically vital genes, respectively. In order to prove the biological significance of these vital genes, we carried out the survival analysis and DNA methylation analysis, inquired about the prognosis in other cancer tissues and the RNA expression level in breast cancer. The results all proved the validity of the selected genes.
Conclusions: These genes could provide a valuable reference in clinical treatment among breast cancer patients.
Keywords: breast cancer; centrality analysis; mutual information; protein–protein interaction; survival analysis.