Screening of targeted genes in extrahepatic bile ducts of mice with experimental biliary atresia.

Biliary atresia (BA) is an infantile disease resulting from a severe cholangiopathy, which can obstruct extrahepatic bile ducts, disrupt bile flow and lead to end‑stage cirrhosis. The current study aimed to develop a genetic method to investigate the pathogenesis of BA. The gene expression profile of BA (GSE46967) was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and included 18 samples from newborn mice. These samples were collected at three time points following the induction of BA with rhesus rotavirus. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in mice with BA were identified using the limma package in R language, followed by hierarchical clustering analysis. Gene ontology functional analysis and Kyoto Enrichment of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis of the selected common DEGs was conducted using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. In total, 306 DEGs were identified in the samples from the 3 day time point, 721 at 7 days and 370 at 14 days. A total of 74 common DEGs were identified in these three sample groups, which are reported to function in multiple immune biological processes, including the defense response, leukocyte migration, cell chemotaxis and leukocyte chemotaxis. In addition, 'cytokine‑cytokine receptor interaction' and 'chemokine signaling pathway' were observed to be significantly enriched in BA. A total of six common DEGs (CCL3, CXCL5, CXCL13, CXCR2, CCL5 and CCL6) were identified that were involved in the significantly enriched functions and the significantly enriched pathways. The data from the current study suggested that the immune response is a critical biological process in the development of BA. The six critical hub genes identified (CCL3, CXCL5, CXCL13, CXCR2, CCL5 and CCL6) may be used as specific target genes in the treatment of BA.