Integrated bioinformatical analysis for identificating the therapeutic targets of aspirin in small cell lung cancer

Purpose: We explored the mechanism of aspirin in SCLC by dissecting many publicly available databases. Methods and results: Firstly, 11 direct protein targets (DPTs) of aspirin were identified by DrugBank 5.0. Then protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and signaling pathways of aspirin DPTs were analyzed. We found that aspirin was linked with many kinds of cancer, and the most significant one is SCLC. Next, we classified the mutation of 4 aspirin DPTs in SCLC (IKBKB, NFKBIA, PTGS2 and TP53) using cBio Portal. Further, we identified top 50 overexpressed genes of SCLC by Oncomine, and the interconnected genes with the 4 aspirin DPTs in SCLC (IKBKB, NFKBIA, PTGS2 and TP53) by STRING. Lastly, we figured out 5 consistently genes as potential therapeutic targets of aspirin in SCLC. Conclusion: The integrated bioinformatical analysis could improve our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanism about how aspirin working in SCLC. Integrated bioinformatical analysis may be considered as a new paradigm for guiding future studies about interaction in drugs and diseases.