Weighted gene co-expression network analysis reveals dysregulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in eating disorders

The underlying mechanisms of eating disorders (EDs) are very complicated and still poorly understood. The pathogenesis of EDs may involve the interplay of multiple genes. To investigate the dysregulated gene pathways in EDs we analyzed gene expression profiling in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tissues from 15 EDs cases, including 3 with anorexia nervosa (AN), 7 with bulimia nervosa (BN), 2 AN-BN cases, 3 cases of EDs not otherwise specified, and 102 controls. We further used a weighted gene co-expression network analysis to construct a gene co-expression network and to detect functional modules of highly correlated genes. The functional enrichment analysis of genes in co-expression modules indicated that an altered mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation process may be involved in the pathogenesis of EDs.