Hu WP, et al. - Researchers used bioinformatic methods in this study, to identify novel candidate genes promoting the development of emphysema in patients with COPD. They reanalyzed the gene expression profile GSE76925 in the Gene Expression Omnibus database. They used Agilent GeneSpring GX v11.5 (corrected P-value <0.05 and |Fold Change|>1.3) to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). To screen the DEGs directly interacting with driver genes, they used STRING.org to construct direct protein–protein interaction network (PPi) of DEGs and known driver genes. The first-layer proteins interacting with DEGs’ products were obtained and the indirect PPi of these interaction proteins were constructed. Thereafter, using Cytoscape v3.6.1, they merged the indirect PPi with driver genes’ PPi. Based on the findings, they suggested a possible involvement of candidate genes such as GPR65, NPSR1, and TP53 in the progression of emphysema.