2026 CONVENTION
Exploring radiation-induced injury pathways and hub genes from RNA-Seq data using bioinformatics analysis
Ionizing radiation (IR) can severely damage bone marrow (BM) by inducing DNA damage, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and disruption of the hematopoietic microenvironment. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying early radiation-induced BM injury remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to identify key radiation-responsive pathways and hub genes using an integrative bioinformatics approach. Public RNA-seq data from mouse BM hematopoietic stem cells collected 3 days after whole-body irradiation were analyzed. Differentially expressed genes were identified using two statistical approaches, followed by Gene Ontology, KEGG, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, and Network-based protein-protein interaction analysis. Irradiation-induced transcriptional changes were mainly associated with cytokine signaling, hematopoietic regulation, immune responses, and extracellular matrix remodeling. KEGG highlighted cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, hematopoietic cell lineage, JAK-STAT, and PI3K-Akt signaling, while GSEA indicated inflammatory, stress-response, and metabolic alterations. Four consensus hub genes, Il6, Cd34, Gypa, and Pdgfrb, were identified. These findings suggest that radiation-induced BM injury involves coordinated inflammatory, hematopoietic, and microenvironmental changes, and these hub genes may serve as candidate molecular indicators of hematopoietic damage.