Identification of hub genes and small molecule therapeutic drugs related to simple steatosis with secondary analysis of existing microarray data

The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay was performed to determine the mRNA expression level of hub genes (FOS, MYC, IL-1B, and EGR1). The SS cases and HC participants were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. These patients were all pathologically diagnosed by liver biopsy. SS patients meeting the following criteria were excluded: (1) they drank more than 20 g/day, (2) they had hepatitis B or C, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, or hepatolenticular degeneration, (3) they long-term treated with non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, calcium antagonists, tamoxifen, amiodarone, corticosterone, isoniazid, and methotrexate, (4) pregnant or lactating women, and (5) patients with liver cancer or other benign/malignant tumors. Finally, 30 patients with SS (mean age 46.83 ± 9.02) and 20 HC people (mean age 43.82 ± 8.34) were included in this analysis.

本研究采用逆转录实时定量聚合酶链式反应（quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, RT-qPCR）检测枢纽基因（hub gene）FOS、MYC、IL-1B及EGR1的mRNA表达水平。干燥综合征（Sjögren's syndrome, SS）患者及健康对照（Healthy Control, HC）均招募自温州医科大学附属第一医院，所有SS患者均经肝活检病理确诊。符合以下任一条件的SS患者被排除：（1）每日饮酒量超过20g；（2）合并乙型肝炎、丙型肝炎、自身免疫性肝炎、原发性胆汁性胆管炎或肝豆状核变性；（3）长期使用非甾体抗炎药、钙通道拮抗剂、他莫昔芬、胺碘酮、皮质类固醇、异烟肼及甲氨蝶呤治疗；（4）妊娠或哺乳期女性；（5）合并肝癌或其他良、恶性肿瘤者。最终本分析共纳入30例SS患者（平均年龄46.83±9.02岁）及20例健康对照者（平均年龄43.82±8.34岁）。