LAUSR

Aim: Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease of the small intestine in genetically-susceptible individuals. There are several genes that are related to the immune response. The aim of this study is to explore the expression of genes associated to CD in the target tissue in order to estimate the contribution of each single gene to the development of immune response. Then the same set of genes in peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC) are evaluated. Methods: The genes related to CD were extracted from public databases (proteomics and microarray-based techniques documents) and organized in a protein-protein interaction network with the help of STRING database as a plugin of Cytoscape software version 3.6.0. The main genes were introduced and enriched via ClueGO to find the related biochemical pathways. The network was analyzed, and the most important genes were introduced based on central indices. Results: Among 20 CD genes as hub and bottleneck nodes, the genes that have common expression in blood and intestinal tissue are seven (CXCL11, GZMB, IL15, IL17A, IL23A, TBX21, TNFAIP3). Conclusion: The enriched biological process and related to the central nodes of celiac network indicate that most of hub-bottleneck genes are well-known ones involved in different types of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases Keywords: Celiac disease, PBMs, intestinal tissue, autoimmune, inflammatory