Analysis of intervertebral disc-related genes.

Intervertebral disk disease is a common clinical disorder manifested by pain, ataxia, paresis, motor paralysis, and sensorimotor paralysis. The clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of cervical and thoracolumbar disk disease have been unclear until now. In this study, some differentially expressed genes were identified, and a network was constructed based on these genes. Through the statistical analysis of nodes and the contrast of 2 more connectivity nodes, it was found that the nodes in the network are in an important position and play key roles. Several of these genes, including MAP2K6, MAP2K3, and MAPK14, belong to the MAP kinase family, and several genes, including RHOBTB2, RHOQ, and RHOH, belong to the RHO family. Therefore, we hypothesize that the development of intervertebral disk disease is related to MAP and RHO family proteins.