• Jie Bai, Bin Geng, Xingwen Wang, Shenghong Wang, and Yayi Xia.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
• Pain Res Manag. 2022 Jan 1; 2022: 6571987.

ObjectiveNeuropathic pain (NP) is a type of intractable chronic pain with complicated etiology. The exact molecular mechanism underlying NP remains unclear. In this study, we searched for molecular biomarkers of NP.MethodsDifferentially expressed genes (DEGs) were predicted by analyzing three NP-related microarray datasets in Gene Expression Omnibus with robust rank aggregation. A weighted gene coexpression network analysis was conducted to construct a network of differentially expressed genes, followed by the evaluation of correlations between gene sets and the determination of hub genes. The candidate genes from the key module were identified using a gene set enrichment analysis.ResultsIn total, 353 upregulated and 383 downregulated genes were obtained, among which five hub genes were determined to be related to pain phenotypes. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to verify the expression of these hub genes in the dorsal root ganglia of rats with spared nerve injury, which revealed the decreased expression of EMC4. Hence, EMC4 was defined as a biomarker for NP development.ConclusionsThe results of this study form a basis for further research into the mechanism of NP development and are expected to aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies.Copyright © 2022 Jie Bai et al.

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