Bioinformatic Analysis Identifies CAV1, KDR, and ERBB Signaling Pathways in BRCA-Associated Ovarian Cancer
Jason Mathew
25/09/2026
Ovarian cancer, the deadliest gynecological cancer in women, is strongly associated with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. However, the molecular mechanisms behind this association remain incompletely understood. Using two datasets from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), GSE135820 (primary ovarian cancer) and GSE135712 (metastatic ovarian cancer), gene expression profiling was performed using the GEO2R web tool. These datasets included ovarian tumor samples from premenopausal women carrying BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutations, which were compared with tumors from ovarian cancer patients without the mutations. The significance threshold was set at an adjusted p-value < 0.05 (Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR)). Differentially expressed genes were prioritized using Venn diagrams and the STRING database for protein-protein interaction (PPI) and functional enrichment analyses. Two targets were prioritized among the datasets: Caveolin 1 (CAV1) and Kinase Insert Domain Receptor (KDR). Our analysis showed that CAV1 was downregulated in primary ovarian cancer but upregulated in metastatic tissue. In contrast, KDR was upregulated in both. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed that the ERBB signaling pathway was the most significantly enriched for both targets, which suggests a potential link between the ERBB signaling pathway and the effect of BRCA1/2 mutations in ovarian cancer tissues. Overall, the findings identify an association between ERBB signaling and BRCA1/2-mutated ovarian cancer which can help contribute to future investigation of its potential biological and therapeutic relevance.