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Picard M, Scott-Boyer MP, Bodein A, Leclercq M, Prunier J, Périn O, Droit A. Target repositioning using multi-layer networks and machine learning: The case of prostate cancer. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2024; 24:464-475. [PMID: 38983753 PMCID: PMC11231507 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2024.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2024] [Revised: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The discovery of novel therapeutic targets, defined as proteins which drugs can interact with to induce therapeutic benefits, typically represent the first and most important step of drug discovery. One solution for target discovery is target repositioning, a strategy which relies on the repurposing of known targets for new diseases, leading to new treatments, less side effects and potential drug synergies. Biological networks have emerged as powerful tools for integrating heterogeneous data and facilitating the prediction of biological or therapeutic properties. Consequently, they are widely employed to predict new therapeutic targets by characterizing potential candidates, often based on their interactions within a Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network, and their proximity to genes associated with the disease. However, over-reliance on PPI networks and the assumption that potential targets are necessarily near known genes can introduce biases that may limit the effectiveness of these methods. This study addresses these limitations in two ways. First, by exploiting a multi-layer network which incorporates additional information such as gene regulation, metabolite interactions, metabolic pathways, and several disease signatures such as Differentially Expressed Genes, mutated genes, Copy Number Alteration, and structural variants. Second, by extracting relevant features from the network using several approaches including proximity to disease-associated genes, but also unbiased approaches such as propagation-based methods, topological metrics, and module detection algorithms. Using prostate cancer as a case study, the best features were identified and utilized to train machine learning algorithms to predict 5 novel promising therapeutic targets for prostate cancer: IGF2R, C5AR, RAB7, SETD2 and NPBWR1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milan Picard
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Marie-Pier Scott-Boyer
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Antoine Bodein
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Mickaël Leclercq
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Julien Prunier
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Olivier Périn
- Digital Transformation and Innovation Department, L'Oréal Advanced Research, Aulnay-sous-bois, France
| | - Arnaud Droit
- Molecular Medicine Department, CHU de Québec Research Center, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
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Uthaya Kumar DB, Motakis E, Yurieva M, Kohar V, Martinek J, Wu TC, Khoury J, Grassmann J, Lu M, Palucka K, Kaminski N, Koff JL, Williams A. Bronchial epithelium epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity forms aberrant basaloid-like cells in vitro. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2022; 322:L822-L841. [PMID: 35438006 PMCID: PMC9142163 DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00254.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Although epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a common feature of fibrotic lung disease, its role in fibrogenesis is controversial. Recently, aberrant basaloid cells were identified in fibrotic lung tissue as a novel epithelial cell type displaying a partial EMT phenotype. The developmental origin of these cells remains unknown. To elucidate the role of EMT in the development of aberrant basaloid cells from the bronchial epithelium, we mapped EMT-induced transcriptional changes at the population and single-cell levels. Human bronchial epithelial cells grown as submerged or air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures with or without EMT induction were analyzed by bulk and single-cell RNA-Sequencing. Comparison of submerged and ALI cultures revealed differential expression of 8,247 protein coding (PC) and 1,621 long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) genes and revealed epithelial cell-type-specific lncRNAs. Similarly, EMT induction in ALI cultures resulted in robust transcriptional reprogramming of 6,020 PC and 907 lncRNA genes. Although there was no evidence for fibroblast/myofibroblast conversion following EMT induction, cells displayed a partial EMT gene signature and an aberrant basaloid-like cell phenotype. The substantial transcriptional differences between submerged and ALI cultures highlight that care must be taken when interpreting data from submerged cultures. This work supports that lung epithelial EMT does not generate fibroblasts/myofibroblasts and confirms ALI cultures provide a physiologically relevant system to study aberrant basaloid-like cells and mechanisms of EMT. We provide a catalog of PC and lncRNA genes and an interactive browser (https://bronc-epi-in-vitro.cells.ucsc.edu/) of single-cell RNA-Seq data for further exploration of potential roles in the lung epithelium in health and lung disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dinesh Babu Uthaya Kumar
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Efthymios Motakis
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Marina Yurieva
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
| | | | - Jan Martinek
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Te-Chia Wu
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Johad Khoury
- Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Jessica Grassmann
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Mingyang Lu
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Karolina Palucka
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut
| | - Naftali Kaminski
- Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Jonathan L Koff
- Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Adam Williams
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
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Burman A, Garcia-Milian R, Whirledge S. Gene X environment: the cellular environment governs the transcriptional response to environmental chemicals. Hum Genomics 2020; 14:19. [PMID: 32448403 PMCID: PMC7247264 DOI: 10.1186/s40246-020-00269-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background An individual’s response to environmental exposures varies depending on their genotype, which has been termed the gene-environment interaction. The phenotype of cell exposed can also be a key determinant in the response to physiological cues, indicating that a cell-gene-environment interaction may exist. We investigated whether the cellular environment could alter the transcriptional response to environmental chemicals. Publicly available gene expression array data permitted a targeted comparison of the transcriptional response to a unique subclass of environmental chemicals that alter the activity of the estrogen receptor, xenoestrogens. Results Thirty xenoestrogens were included in the analysis, for which 426 human gene expression studies were identified. Comparisons were made for studies that met the predefined criteria for exposure length, concentration, and experimental replicates. The cellular response to the phytoestrogen genistein resulted in remarkably unique transcriptional profiles in breast, liver, and uterine cell-types. Analysis of gene regulatory networks and molecular pathways revealed that the cellular context mediated the activation or repression of functions important to cellular organization and survival, including opposing effects by genistein in breast vs. liver and uterine cell-types. When controlling for cell-type, xenoestrogens regulate unique gene networks and biological functions, despite belonging to the same class of environmental chemicals. Interestingly, the genetic sex of the cell-type also strongly influenced the transcriptional response to xenoestrogens in the liver, with only 22% of the genes significantly regulated by genistein common between male and female cells. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the transcriptional response to environmental chemicals depends on a variety of factors, including the cellular context, the genetic sex of a cell, and the individual chemical. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating the impact of exposure across cell-types, as the effect is responsive to the cellular environment. These comparative genetic results support the concept of a cell-gene-environment interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreanna Burman
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, 310 Cedar St, PO Box 208063, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Rolando Garcia-Milian
- Bioinformatics Support Program, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Shannon Whirledge
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, 310 Cedar St, PO Box 208063, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
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Nam D. Effect of the absolute statistic on gene-sampling gene-set analysis methods. Stat Methods Med Res 2015; 26:1248-1260. [PMID: 25733546 DOI: 10.1177/0962280215574014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Gene-set enrichment analysis and its modified versions have commonly been used for identifying altered functions or pathways in disease from microarray data. In particular, the simple gene-sampling gene-set analysis methods have been heavily used for datasets with only a few sample replicates. The biggest problem with this approach is the highly inflated false-positive rate. In this paper, the effect of absolute gene statistic on gene-sampling gene-set analysis methods is systematically investigated. Thus far, the absolute gene statistic has merely been regarded as a supplementary method for capturing the bidirectional changes in each gene set. Here, it is shown that incorporating the absolute gene statistic in gene-sampling gene-set analysis substantially reduces the false-positive rate and improves the overall discriminatory ability. Its effect was investigated by power, false-positive rate, and receiver operating curve for a number of simulated and real datasets. The performances of gene-set analysis methods in one-tailed (genome-wide association study) and two-tailed (gene expression data) tests were also compared and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougu Nam
- Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Mathematical Sciences, UNIST, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
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