Figure 4

One of experimental result from pathways intersection. This figure demonstrates the experimental result after performing pathway interaction. Several pathways contributed to this result: the colorectal cancer related pathway, the hedgehog signaling pathway, the WNT signaling pathway and the notch signaling pathway. The connected gene DVL (disheveled, dsh homolog) connects two critical pathways: the WNT signaling pathway and the Notch signaling pathway. Gatcliffe et al. suggested that WNT signaling plays a role in ovarian tumorigenesis [45]. WNT signaling has a significant influence on the embryonic development of the ovary and is also involved in normal follicular development and ovarian function [46, 47]. The WNT signaling pathway is involved in ovarian cancer development via multiple, diverse mechanisms, including gene mutations and changes in pathway components such as extracellular inhibitors and intranuclear transcription cofactors. According to Wang et al., the WNT signaling pathway passes signals to the Notch signaling pathway [48]. The Notch signaling pathway is known to be responsible for maintaining a balance between cell proliferation and death and, as such, plays an important role in the formation of many types of human tumors. In our computational results, WNT signaling connects the Notch signaling pathway through DVL gene, which indicates DVL is a critical gene for passing signals through pathways. In addition, the computational evidence provided by the values of betweenness centrality, degree and p-value indicate that DVL may be involved in platinum-based chemoresistance.