Complex regulatory network of microRNAs, transcription factors, gene alterations in adrenocortical cancer.

Several lines of evidence indicate that cancer is a multistep process. To survey the mechanisms involving gene alteration and miRNAs in adrenocortical cancer, we focused on transcriptional factors as a point of penetration to build a regulatory network. We derived three level networks: differentially expressed; related; and global. A topology network ws then set up for development of adrenocortical cancer. In this network, we found that some pathways with differentially expressed elements (genetic and miRNA) showed some self-adaption relations, such as EGFR. The differentially expressed elements partially uncovered mechanistic changes for adrenocortical cancer which should guide medical researchers to further achieve pertinent research.