Identification of biomarkers and drug repurposing candidates based on an immune-, inflammation- and membranous glomerulonephritis-associated triplets network for membranous glomerulonephritis

Abstract Background Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is a common kidney disease. Despite many evidences support that many immune and inflammation-related genes could serve as effective biomarkers and treatment targets for MGN patients, the potential associations among MGN-, immune- and inflammation-related genes have not been sufficiently understood. Methods Here, a global immune-, inflammation- and MGN-associated triplets (IIMATs) network is constructed and analyzed. An integrated and computational approach is developed to identify dysregulated IIMATs for MGN patients based on expression and interaction data. Results 45 dysregulated IIMATs are identified in MGN by above method. Dysregulated patterns of these dysregulated IIMATs are complex and various. We identify four core clusters from dysregulated IIMATs network and some of these clusters could distinguish MGN and normal samples. Specially, some anti-cancer drugs including Tamoxifen, Bosutinib, Ponatinib and Nintedanib could become candidate drugs for MGN based on drug repurposing strategy follow IIMATs. Functional analysis shows these dysregulated IIMATs are associated with some key functions and chemokine signaling pathway. Conclusions The present study explored the associations among immune, inflammation and MGN. Some effective candidate drugs for MGN were identified based on immune and inflammation. Overall, these comprehensive results provide novel insights into the mechanisms and treatment of MGN.