Genome analysis and identification of key pathway in visceral adipose tissue from obesity-related diabetes

Obesity increases the risk of diabetes; however, not everyone who is obese develops diabetes. In this study, the dataset GSE54350 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO), including obese diabetic and non-diabetic samples as control. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between obese diabetic and non-diabetic samples were selected using GEO2R plugin. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis of these DEGs were performed using Metascape. The results showed 1073 DEGs, including 496 up-regulated genes and 577 down-regulated genes. These DEGs were enriched in biological pathways involved in hemostasis, regulation of organelle assembly, apoptotic signaling, myeloid leukocyte activation, apoptosis, etc. We revealed that Caspase 3 (CASP3) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3 (TIMP3) might serve as marker genes and potential therapeutic targets for obesity-related diabetes, which deserves further investigations for validation.