Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33532314›Full record

ArticleTranslational andrology and urology2021

Integrative bioinformatics approaches for identifying potential biomarkers and pathways involved in non-obstructive azoospermia.

Tengfei Hu, Shaoge Luo, Yu Xi, Xuchong Tu, Xiaojian Yang, Hui Zhang, Jiarong Feng, Chunlin Wang, Yan Zhang

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Translational andrology and urology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.2field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Tengfei HuDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Shaoge LuoDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yu XiDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xuchong TuDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiaojian YangDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Hui ZhangDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Jiarong FengDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Chunlin WangDepartment of Andrology, Ruikang Hospital Affiliated to Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China.
Yan ZhangDepartment of Infertility and Sexual Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University · CNSun Yat-sen University · CNGuangxi University of Chinese Medicine · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNon-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a disease related to spermatogenic disorders. Currently, the specific etiological mechanism of NOA is unclear. This study aimed to use integrated bioinformatics to screen biomarkers and pathways involved in NOA and reveal their potential molecular mechanisms.

methodsGSE145467 and GSE108886 gene expression profiles were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NOA tissues and matched obstructive azoospermia (OA) tissues were identified using the GEO2R tool. Common DEGs in the two datasets were screened out by the VennDiagram package. For the functional annotation of common DEGs, DAVID v.6.8 was used to perform Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. In accordance with data collected from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by Cytoscape. Cytohubba in Cytoscape was used to screen the hub genes. Furthermore, the hub genes were validated based on a separate dataset, GSE9210. Finally, potential micro RNAs (miRNAs) of hub genes were predicted by miRWalk 3.0.

resultsA total of 816 common DEGs, including 52 common upregulated and 764 common downregulated genes in two datasets, were screened out. Some of the more important of these pathways, including focal adhesion, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway, FoxO signaling pathway, and Huntington disease, were involved in spermatogenesis. We further identified the top 20 hub genes from the PPI network, including

conclusionsTaken together, the identification of the above hub genes, miRNAs and pathways will help us better understand the mechanisms associated with NOA, and provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for NOA.

Indexed as

biomarkersexpression profiling datafunctional enrichment analysisNon-obstructive azoospermia (NOA)protein–protein interactions

Identifiers

PMID33532314
PMCPMC7844508
OpenAlexW3117488006

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.