Identification of key gene modules and pathways of human platelet transcriptome in acute myocardial infarction patients through co-expression network.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) seriously threatens human life. In this study we aimed to systemically analyze the function of key gene modules in human platelets in AMI. We used weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to construct a co-expression module, and analyzed the relationship between potential modules and clinical characteristics based on platelet RNA-seq RPKM count reads of 16 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients and 16 non-STEMI (NSTEMI) patients provided by the GEO database. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed with the DAVID tool. Hub genes were calculated by the Cytohubba package. A total of 3653 genes was selected to construct the co-expression modules. A significant correlation between BMI and the module with color of sky-blue in STEMI. In NSTEMI, there was a significant correlation between the sky blue module and CAD, the Salmon module and HT, and the Cyan module and HT. In STEMI, the Hub genes were mainly enriched in functions related to cell membrane signal transduction including Aqp1, Armcx1, Gsta4, Hist3h2a and Il17re. In NSTEMI, the Hub genes are related mainly to energy metabolism in the sky-blue module including Olr1, Nap1l3, Gfer, Dohh, Crispld1 and Ccdc8b; they are mainly related to extracellular space and calcium binding in the Cyan module, including Clec12b, Chd4, Asgr1, Armcx4, Chid1 and Alkbh7. The hub genes in the Salmon module include Ell3, Aldh1b1, Cavin4, Cabp4, Eif1ay and Dus3l. Our results provide a framework for co-expression gene modules in STEMI and NSTEMI patients, and identify key targets as biomarkers for patients with different subtypes of AMI.