We love to know how our tools are being used in the field. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) is a popular choice for life science researchers who analyze, integrate, and interpret data derived from ‘omics experiments. Here, we recap a few recent publications in which IPA was cited as a tool that helped uncover the significance of gene expression data and identify new targets or candidate biomarkers within the context of biological systems.
Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of Gene Expression Profiles in Distal Nerve Stump following Nerve Injury: Insights into Wallerian Degeneration
First author: Jun Yu
A team from Nantong, China, reported their findings after studying the significant pathways and cellular functions affected by nerve injury. To get a better molecular understanding of Wallerian nerve degeneration, the team used IPA to identify canonical pathways, diseases, and functions. They found genes that were differentially expressed after sciatic nerve transection, potentially aiding the development of therapies for peripheral nerve injury.
Pathway Analysis of Bladder Cancer Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Novel Pathways Involved in Bladder Cancer Development
First author: Meng Chen
A team based in Houston and Bethesda recently reported in Genes and Cancer their use of IPA for functional annotation during a project to research the novel pathways of bladder cancer development. These findings will contribute to the etiological insights that highlight the specific genes and pathways associated with the development of this disease.
Molecular Network, Pathway, and Functional Analysis of Time-dependent Gene Changes Associated with Pancreatic Cancer Susceptibility to Oncolytic Vaccinia Virotherapy
First author: Dana Haddad
Molecular Therapy Oncolytics published this paper by a team from New York and Germany that conducted differential gene analysis to determine changes in expression patterns specific to infection and susceptibility of pancreatic cancer cells to GLV-1h153 —an oncolytic vaccinia virus. They used IPA to analyze the list of differentially expressed genes and to map 124 of the 139 genes that were up- or down-regulated more than twofold. The paper asserted that it is possible to assess time-dependent changes in pancreatic cancer cell gene expression patterns, suggesting that molecular assays may be useful for developing safer oncolytic virotherapies.
Bioinformatics and Microarray Analysis of miRNAs in Aged Female Mice Model Implied New Molecular Mechanisms for Impaired Fracture Healing
First author: Bing He
To better understand how fractures heal in adult and senior (age 60+) women, a Chinese team recently used IPA for pathway enrichment analyses and for looking at the differences in molecular and cellular events during the fracture healing process. Using a novel bioinformatics scoring system, they studied the pathogenesis of impaired fracture healing in mice, discovering differentially expressed miRNAs and their dynamic expression patterns. The study, which was published in the International Journal of Molecular Science, is helping to improve our understanding of impaired fracture healing.
MicroRNA Regulation of Human Genes Essential for Influenza A (H7N9) Replication
First author: Stefan Wolf
A joint U.S.-Australian team published this paper in PLOS One, detailing the results of their work to identify new drug targets for therapeutic intervention of animal influenza A (H7N9). The team cited IPA as their tool of choice for pathway analysis, and used it to determine target genes of miR-664, which was found to have potential antiviral effects in reducing H7N9 replication. This study was the first of its kind to report an miRNA-based antiviral therapeutic that counteracts H7N9 replication in vitro, which could be a compelling development in the prevention of flu pandemics.
If you have used IPA or another QIAGEN Bioinformatics product and you’d like to share your experience, please get in touch! We are always interested in the work you do and would love to hear about it. You can also request a trial to see how IPA can work for you.