Integrated Bioinformatic Approach to Identify Potential Biomarkers against Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and progressive lung disease that leads to gradual decline in lung function. The molecular mechanism and risk factors of this disease are still obscure. Poorly understood etiology of this disease is the major obstacle in the identification of potential biomarkers and drug targets. In this study, microarray gene expression data of normal and IPF patient has been utilized for the statistical analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with a view to identifying potential molecular signatures using network-based system. Then their functional enrichment analysis revealed their predominant involvement in transcription, protein acetylation, extracellular matrix organization, apoptic process, inflammatory response etc. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network revealed (UBC, PTEN, SOS1, PTK2, FGFR1, YAP1, FOXO1, RACK1, BMP4 and CD44) as hub proteins in IPF. Subsequent regulatory network analysis suggested (E2F1, STAT3, PPARG, MEF2A, FOXC1, GATA3, YY1, GATA2, NFKB1, and FOXL1) as the best regulatory transcriptional signatures and (hsa-mir-155-5p, hsa-mir-16-5p, hsa-mir-17-5p, hsa-mir-19a-3p, hsa-mir-192-5p, hsa-mir-92a-3p, hsa-mir-26b-5p, hsa-mir-335-5p, hsa-mir-124-3p, and hsa-let-7b-5p) as the best post-transcriptional signatures. This study represents proteome and RNA signatures of IPF which might be useful to uphold the present efforts in the discovery of potential biomarkers and treatments of this disease. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement Authors received no specific funding from any external source. ### Author Declarations All relevant ethical guidelines have been followed; any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained and details of the IRB/oversight body are included in the manuscript. Yes All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes Authors made all data generated during experiment and analysis available in the manuscript.