Identification and Analysis of Genes Involved in Stages of Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is a common malignant tumor that occurs in the colon, with high morbidity and mortality. In addition, most cancers are caused by genetic mutations. With the continuous development of sequencing technology, the amount of gene expression data increases dramatically, so we can study biological data from the perspective of data mining. In this study, we mainly through data analysis and network analysis to explore the colon cancer related genes and its biological functions. First, we obtained the gene expression data and some other data, then did the data preprocessing. Second, we grouped the data by sample disease stage, and differential expression analysis was performed for each group. Then, the PPI network and the functional interaction network were constructed by differentially expressed genes. Finally, we conducted Newman clustering algorithm on PPI network and functional interaction network, then carried out graph topology analysis and functional pathway analysis respectively. The result showed that CTP3A4, FLNC, CNTN2, MEP18 and MAOA might be colon cancer related genes. Besides, cAMP signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction were KEGG pathways with significant differences in four stages of colon cancer. And some pathways are closely related to other pathways at adjacent stages, such as chemokine signaling pathway and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction.