Objective  To screen out the differentially expressed genes of transforming follicular lymphoma (tFL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL)  and to perform bioinformatics analysis. In this way, the differences between the three and the biological process of the development of tFL were explored, and potential targets were found for subsequent experiments.

Method  GEO database was used to screen out the gene sets of tFL, FL and DLBCL, to analyze the differential genes, and to perform GEO enrichment visualization analysis, gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis.

Result  A total of 11 388 differentially expressed genes were found in the gene sets of tFL and FL, and GO enrichment analysis showed that the functions of differential genes were mainly concentrated in axonal generation and dendritic development. Through KEGG pathway analysis, it was found that the key pathways were axon guidance and Hippo signaling pathway. There were 17 216 differentially expressed genes in tFL and DLBCL, the funktions of differential genes found by GO enrichment analysis mainly focused on regulating cell development and histone modification. KEGG pathway analysis found that the key pathways were axonal guidance, ligand-receptor interaction that stimulated neural tissue, and so on.

Conclusion  tFL from follicular lymphoma, although morphologically similar to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is closer to follicular lymphoma in terms of gene expression. The morphological difference between transforming follicular lymphoma and follicular lymphoma is the result of the joint effect of regulating the development of axons and dendrites, as well as the regulation of cell components and cell development.

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