Research Article
Potential Biomarkers and Signaling Pathways Associated with the
Pathogenesis of Primary Ameloblastoma: A Systems
Biology Approach
Zeynab Bayat ,
1
Azin Mirzaeian ,
1
and Amir Taherkhani
2
1
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
2
Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Correspondence should be addressed to Amir Taherkhani; amir.007.taherkhani@gmail.com
Received 12 April 2022; Accepted 7 September 2022; Published 16 September 2022
Academic Editor: Amol Gadbail
Copyright © 2022 Zeynab Bayat et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Objective. Ameloblastoma is a benign odontogenic tumor that may lead to ameloblastic carcinoma. is study aimed to determine
potential signaling pathways and biological processes, critical genes and their regulating transcription factors (TFs), and miRNAs,
as well as protein kinases involved in the etiology of primary ameloblastoma. Methods. e dataset GSE132472 was obtained from
the GEO database, and multivariate statistical analyses were applied to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in primary
ameloblastoma tissues compared to the corresponding normal gingiva samples. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) map was built
using the STRING database. e Cytoscape software identified significant modules and the hub genes within the PPI network.
Gene Ontology annotation and signaling pathway analyses were executed by employing the DAVID and Reactome databases,
respectively. Significant TFs and miRNAs acting on the hub genes were identified using the iRegulon plugin and MiRWalk 2.0
database, respectively. A protein kinase enrichment analysis was conducted using the online Kinase Enrichment Analysis 2
(KEA2) web server. e approved drugs acting on the hub genes were also found. Results. A total of 1,629 genes were differentially
expressed in primary ameloblastoma (P value <0.01 and |Log2FC| > 1). HRAS, CDK1, MAPK3, ERBB2, COL1A1, CYCS, and
BRCA1 demonstrated high degree and betweenness centralities in the PPI network. E2F4 was the most significant TF acting on the
hub genes. BTK was the protein kinase significantly enriched by the TFs. Cholesterol biosynthesis was considerably involved in
primary ameloblastoma. Conclusions. is study provides an intuition into the potential mechanisms involved in the etiology
of ameloblastoma.
1. Introduction
Odontogenic tumors are a class of heterogeneous lesions
arising from the tooth-forming tissue, including ectome-
senchyme and epithelium remnants associated with the
teeth’ formation [1, 2]. ese tumors could affect individuals
of different ages, with peripheral or central tumor locations
in the maxillary or mandibular region, leading to facial
swelling [3, 4]. Ameloblastoma is an odontogenic tumor
originating from the cells close to the tooth-root derived
from the ectoderm germ layer. Although ameloblastoma is
the pathology in 1% of all tumors in the jaw region, they are
known as the second commonest odontogenic tumor. ey
occur equally in men and women with ages ranging from 30
to 50, with approximately 80% of the cases in the mandible.
ey are principally benign tumors; however, they show
aggressive behavior and could lead to ameloblastic carci-
noma (also known as malignant ameloblastoma). e re-
currence rate of ameloblastoma is high if the lesions are not
cut off perfectly during surgery [5]. Although several types of
research have been executed to elucidate molecular changes
in odontogenic tumors such as ameloblastoma, their exact
underlying mechanisms, including cellular differentiation
and tumorigenesis, are unclear and need more studies in this
field [6].
Inside human cells, thousands of genes, transcriptomes,
and proteins function in various complicated biological
networks, including protein-protein interaction (PPI), gene
Hindawi
International Journal of Dentistry
Volume 2022, Article ID 3316313, 14 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3316313