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Aberasturi D, Pouladi N, Zaim SR, Kenost C, Berghout J, Piegorsch WW, Lussier YA. 'Single-subject studies'-derived analyses unveil altered biomechanisms between very small cohorts: implications for rare diseases. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:i67-i75. [PMID: 34252934 PMCID: PMC8336591 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Identifying altered transcripts between very small human cohorts is particularly challenging and is compounded by the low accrual rate of human subjects in rare diseases or sub-stratified common disorders. Yet, single-subject studies (S3) can compare paired transcriptome samples drawn from the same patient under two conditions (e.g. treated versus pre-treatment) and suggest patient-specific responsive biomechanisms based on the overrepresentation of functionally defined gene sets. These improve statistical power by: (i) reducing the total features tested and (ii) relaxing the requirement of within-cohort uniformity at the transcript level. We propose Inter-N-of-1, a novel method, to identify meaningful differences between very small cohorts by using the effect size of 'single-subject-study'-derived responsive biological mechanisms. RESULTS In each subject, Inter-N-of-1 requires applying previously published S3-type N-of-1-pathways MixEnrich to two paired samples (e.g. diseased versus unaffected tissues) for determining patient-specific enriched genes sets: Odds Ratios (S3-OR) and S3-variance using Gene Ontology Biological Processes. To evaluate small cohorts, we calculated the precision and recall of Inter-N-of-1 and that of a control method (GLM+EGS) when comparing two cohorts of decreasing sizes (from 20 versus 20 to 2 versus 2) in a comprehensive six-parameter simulation and in a proof-of-concept clinical dataset. In simulations, the Inter-N-of-1 median precision and recall are > 90% and >75% in cohorts of 3 versus 3 distinct subjects (regardless of the parameter values), whereas conventional methods outperform Inter-N-of-1 at sample sizes 9 versus 9 and larger. Similar results were obtained in the clinical proof-of-concept dataset. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION R software is available at Lussierlab.net/BSSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon Aberasturi
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721
| | - Nima Pouladi
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, UT, USA 84108
| | - Samir Rachid Zaim
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721
| | - Colleen Kenost
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, UT, USA 84108
| | - Joanne Berghout
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Ctr for Appl. Genetics and Genomic Medic, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721
| | - Walter W Piegorsch
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Bio5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), University of Arizona Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85724-5035.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, UT, USA 84108.,Ctr for Appl. Genetics and Genomic Medic, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721.,Bio5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721
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Shen L, Lei S, Zhang B, Li S, Huang L, Czachor A, Breitzig M, Gao Y, Huang M, Mo X, Zheng Q, Sun H, Wang F. Skipping of exon 10 in Axl pre-mRNA regulated by PTBP1 mediates invasion and metastasis process of liver cancer cells. Am J Cancer Res 2020; 10:5719-5735. [PMID: 32483414 PMCID: PMC7255001 DOI: 10.7150/thno.42010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The Axl gene is known to encode for a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in the metastasis process of cancer. In this study, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of Axl alternative splicing. Methods: The expression levels of PTBP1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues were obtained from TCGA samples and cell lines. The effect of Axl-L, Axl-S, and PTBP1 on cell growth, migration, invasion tumor formation, and metastasis of liver cancer cells were measured by cell proliferation, wound-healing, invasion, xenograft tumor formation, and metastasis. Interaction between PTBP1 and Axl was explored using cross-link immunoprecipitation, RNA pull-down assays and RNA immunoprecipitation assays. Results: Knockdown of the PTBP1 and exon 10 skipping isoform of Axl (Axl-S), led to impaired invasion and metastasis in hepatoma cells. Immunoprecipitation results indicated that Axl-S protein binds more robustly with Gas6 ligand than Axl-L (exon 10 including) and is more capable of promoting phosphorylation of ERK and AKT proteins. Furthermore, cross-link immunoprecipitation and RNA-pulldown assays revealed that PTBP1 binds to the polypyrimidine sequence(TCCTCTCTGTCCTTTCTTC) on Axl-Intron 9. MS2-GFP-IP experiments demonstrated that PTBP1 competes with U2AF2 for binding to the aforementioned polypyrimidine sequence, thereby inhibiting alternative splicing and ultimately promoting Axl-S production. Conclusion: Our results highlight the biological significance of Axl-S and PTBP1 in tumor metastasis, and show that PTBP1 affects the invasion and metastasis of hepatoma cells by modulating the alternative splicing of Axl exon 10.
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Rachid Zaim S, Kenost C, Berghout J, Vitali F, Zhang HH, Lussier YA. Evaluating single-subject study methods for personal transcriptomic interpretations to advance precision medicine. BMC Med Genomics 2019; 12:96. [PMID: 31296218 PMCID: PMC6624180 DOI: 10.1186/s12920-019-0513-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Gene expression profiling has benefited medicine by providing clinically relevant insights at the molecular candidate and systems levels. However, to adopt a more ‘precision’ approach that integrates individual variability including ‘omics data into risk assessments, diagnoses, and therapeutic decision making, whole transcriptome expression needs to be interpreted meaningfully for single subjects. We propose an “all-against-one” framework that uses biological replicates in isogenic conditions for testing differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in a single subject (ss) in the absence of an appropriate external reference standard or replicates. To evaluate our proposed “all-against-one” framework, we construct reference standards (RSs) with five conventional replicate-anchored analyses (NOISeq, DEGseq, edgeR, DESeq, DESeq2) and the remainder were treated separately as single-subject sample pairs for ss analyses (without replicates). Results Eight ss methods (NOISeq, DEGseq, edgeR, mixture model, DESeq, DESeq2, iDEG, and ensemble) for identifying genes with differential expression were compared in Yeast (parental line versus snf2 deletion mutant; n = 42/condition) and a MCF7 breast-cancer cell line (baseline versus stimulated with estradiol; n = 7/condition). Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) and precision-recall plots were determined for eight ss methods against each of the five RSs in both datasets. Consistent with prior analyses of these data, ~ 50% and ~ 15% DEGs were obtained in Yeast and MCF7 datasets respectively, regardless of the RSs method. NOISeq, edgeR, and DESeq were the most concordant for creating a RS. Single-subject versions of NOISeq, DEGseq, and an ensemble learner achieved the best median ROC-area-under-the-curve to compare two transcriptomes without replicates regardless of the RS method and dataset (> 90% in Yeast, > 0.75 in MCF7). Further, distinct specific single-subject methods perform better according to different proportions of DEGs. Conclusions The “all-against-one” framework provides a honest evaluation framework for single-subject DEG studies since these methods are evaluated, by design, against reference standards produced by unrelated DEG methods. The ss-ensemble method was the only one to reliably produce higher accuracies in all conditions tested in this conservative evaluation framework. However, single-subject methods for identifying DEGs from paired samples need improvement, as no method performed with precision> 90% and obtained moderate levels of recall. http://www.lussiergroup.org/publications/EnsembleBiomarker
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Affiliation(s)
- Samir Rachid Zaim
- The Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics of the University of Arizona Health Sciences, 1230 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,The Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5035, USA.,The Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, 617 N. Santa Rita Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Colleen Kenost
- The Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics of the University of Arizona Health Sciences, 1230 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,The Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5035, USA
| | - Joanne Berghout
- The Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics of the University of Arizona Health Sciences, 1230 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,The Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5035, USA.,The Center for Applied Genetic and Genomic Medicine, 1295 N. Martin, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Francesca Vitali
- The Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics of the University of Arizona Health Sciences, 1230 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,The Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5035, USA
| | - Helen Hao Zhang
- The Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, 617 N. Santa Rita Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,The Department of Mathematics, College of Sciences, The University of Arizona, 617 N. Santa Rita Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- The Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics of the University of Arizona Health Sciences, 1230 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,The Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5035, USA. .,The Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, 617 N. Santa Rita Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,The Center for Applied Genetic and Genomic Medicine, 1295 N. Martin, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,The University of Arizona Cancer Center, 3838 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85719-1454, USA.
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Ozturk K, Dow M, Carlin DE, Bejar R, Carter H. The Emerging Potential for Network Analysis to Inform Precision Cancer Medicine. J Mol Biol 2018; 430:2875-2899. [PMID: 29908887 PMCID: PMC6097914 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Revised: 05/30/2018] [Accepted: 06/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Precision cancer medicine promises to tailor clinical decisions to patients using genomic information. Indeed, successes of drugs targeting genetic alterations in tumors, such as imatinib that targets BCR-ABL in chronic myelogenous leukemia, have demonstrated the power of this approach. However, biological systems are complex, and patients may differ not only by the specific genetic alterations in their tumor, but also by more subtle interactions among such alterations. Systems biology and more specifically, network analysis, provides a framework for advancing precision medicine beyond clinical actionability of individual mutations. Here we discuss applications of network analysis to study tumor biology, early methods for N-of-1 tumor genome analysis, and the path for such tools to the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kivilcim Ozturk
- Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Michelle Dow
- Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Daniel E Carlin
- Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Rafael Bejar
- Moores Cancer Center, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Hannah Carter
- Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Moores Cancer Center and Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; CIFAR, MaRS Centre, West Tower, 661 University Ave., Suite 505, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada.
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5
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Parimbelli E, Marini S, Sacchi L, Bellazzi R. Patient similarity for precision medicine: A systematic review. J Biomed Inform 2018; 83:87-96. [PMID: 29864490 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2018.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2018] [Revised: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Evidence-based medicine is the most prevalent paradigm adopted by physicians. Clinical practice guidelines typically define a set of recommendations together with eligibility criteria that restrict their applicability to a specific group of patients. The ever-growing size and availability of health-related data is currently challenging the broad definitions of guideline-defined patient groups. Precision medicine leverages on genetic, phenotypic, or psychosocial characteristics to provide precise identification of patient subsets for treatment targeting. Defining a patient similarity measure is thus an essential step to allow stratification of patients into clinically-meaningful subgroups. The present review investigates the use of patient similarity as a tool to enable precision medicine. 279 articles were analyzed along four dimensions: data types considered, clinical domains of application, data analysis methods, and translational stage of findings. Cancer-related research employing molecular profiling and standard data analysis techniques such as clustering constitute the majority of the retrieved studies. Chronic and psychiatric diseases follow as the second most represented clinical domains. Interestingly, almost one quarter of the studies analyzed presented a novel methodology, with the most advanced employing data integration strategies and being portable to different clinical domains. Integration of such techniques into decision support systems constitutes and interesting trend for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Parimbelli
- Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; Interdepartmental Centre for Health Technologies, University of Pavia, Italy.
| | - S Marini
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Interdepartmental Centre for Health Technologies, University of Pavia, Italy
| | - L Sacchi
- Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Italy; Interdepartmental Centre for Health Technologies, University of Pavia, Italy
| | - R Bellazzi
- Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Italy; Interdepartmental Centre for Health Technologies, University of Pavia, Italy; RCCS ICS Maugeri, Pavia, Italy
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6
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Gardeux V, Berghout J, Achour I, Schissler AG, Li Q, Kenost C, Li J, Shang Y, Bosco A, Saner D, Halonen MJ, Jackson DJ, Li H, Martinez FD, Lussier YA. A genome-by-environment interaction classifier for precision medicine: personal transcriptome response to rhinovirus identifies children prone to asthma exacerbations. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2017; 24:1116-1126. [PMID: 29016970 PMCID: PMC6080688 DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocx069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2016] [Revised: 05/01/2017] [Accepted: 06/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To introduce a disease prognosis framework enabled by a robust classification scheme derived from patient-specific transcriptomic response to stimulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Within an illustrative case study to predict asthma exacerbation, we designed a stimulation assay that reveals individualized transcriptomic response to human rhinovirus. Gene expression from peripheral blood mononuclear cells was quantified from 23 pediatric asthmatic patients and stimulated in vitro with human rhinovirus. Responses were obtained via the single-subject gene set testing methodology "N-of-1-pathways." The classifier was trained on a related independent training dataset (n = 19). Novel visualizations of personal transcriptomic responses are provided. RESULTS Of the 23 pediatric asthmatic patients, 12 experienced recurrent exacerbations. Our classifier, using individualized responses and trained on an independent dataset, obtained 74% accuracy (area under the receiver operating curve of 71%; 2-sided P = .039). Conventional classifiers using messenger RNA (mRNA) expression within the viral-exposed samples were unsuccessful (all patients predicted to have recurrent exacerbations; accuracy of 52%). DISCUSSION Prognosis based on single time point, static mRNA expression alone neglects the importance of dynamic genome-by-environment interplay in phenotypic presentation. Individualized transcriptomic response quantified at the pathway (gene sets) level reveals interpretable signals related to clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION The proposed framework provides an innovative approach to precision medicine. We show that quantifying personal pathway-level transcriptomic response to a disease-relevant environmental challenge predicts disease progression. This genome-by-environment interaction assay offers a noninvasive opportunity to translate omics data to clinical practice by improving the ability to predict disease exacerbation and increasing the potential to produce more effective treatment decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Gardeux
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Joanne Berghout
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - A Grant Schissler
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Qike Li
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Colleen Kenost
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Jianrong Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Yuan Shang
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Innovation in Brain Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Anthony Bosco
- Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, Australia
| | - Donald Saner
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Banner Health, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | | | - Daniel J Jackson
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, WI, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Fernando D Martinez
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
- UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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Schissler AG, Li Q, Chen JL, Kenost C, Achour I, Billheimer DD, Li H, Piegorsch WW, Lussier YA. Analysis of aggregated cell-cell statistical distances within pathways unveils therapeutic-resistance mechanisms in circulating tumor cells. Bioinformatics 2017; 32:i80-i89. [PMID: 27307648 PMCID: PMC4908332 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btw248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION As 'omics' biotechnologies accelerate the capability to contrast a myriad of molecular measurements from a single cell, they also exacerbate current analytical limitations for detecting meaningful single-cell dysregulations. Moreover, mRNA expression alone lacks functional interpretation, limiting opportunities for translation of single-cell transcriptomic insights to precision medicine. Lastly, most single-cell RNA-sequencing analytic approaches are not designed to investigate small populations of cells such as circulating tumor cells shed from solid tumors and isolated from patient blood samples. RESULTS In response to these characteristics and limitations in current single-cell RNA-sequencing methodology, we introduce an analytic framework that models transcriptome dynamics through the analysis of aggregated cell-cell statistical distances within biomolecular pathways. Cell-cell statistical distances are calculated from pathway mRNA fold changes between two cells. Within an elaborate case study of circulating tumor cells derived from prostate cancer patients, we develop analytic methods of aggregated distances to identify five differentially expressed pathways associated to therapeutic resistance. Our aggregation analyses perform comparably with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and better than differentially expressed genes followed by gene set enrichment. However, these methods were not designed to inform on differential pathway expression for a single cell. As such, our framework culminates with the novel aggregation method, cell-centric statistics (CCS). CCS quantifies the effect size and significance of differentially expressed pathways for a single cell of interest. Improved rose plots of differentially expressed pathways in each cell highlight the utility of CCS for therapeutic decision-making. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION http://www.lussierlab.org/publications/CCS/ CONTACT: yves@email.arizona.edu or piegorsch@math.arizona.edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Grant Schissler
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Qike Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - James L Chen
- Division of Bioinformatics, Departments of Biomedical Informatics Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Colleen Kenost
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - D Dean Billheimer
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Walter W Piegorsch
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2) Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics Department of Medicine BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA The University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
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Schissler AG, Piegorsch WW, Lussier YA. Testing for differentially expressed genetic pathways with single-subject N-of-1 data in the presence of inter-gene correlation. Stat Methods Med Res 2017; 27:3797-3813. [PMID: 28552011 DOI: 10.1177/0962280217712271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Modern precision medicine increasingly relies on molecular data analytics, wherein development of interpretable single-subject ("N-of-1") signals is a challenging goal. A previously developed global framework, N-of-1- pathways, employs single-subject gene expression data to identify differentially expressed gene set pathways in an individual patient. Unfortunately, the limited amount of data within the single-subject, N-of-1 setting makes construction of suitable statistical inferences for identifying differentially expressed gene set pathways difficult, especially when non-trivial inter-gene correlation is present. We propose a method that exploits external information on gene expression correlations to cluster positively co-expressed genes within pathways, then assesses differential expression across the clusters within a pathway. A simulation study illustrates that the cluster-based approach exhibits satisfactory false-positive error control and reasonable power to detect differentially expressed gene set pathways. An example with a single N-of-1 patient's triple negative breast cancer data illustrates use of the methodology.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Grant Schissler
- 1 Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,2 Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,3 BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,4 Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Walter W Piegorsch
- 1 Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,2 Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,3 BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,5 Department of Mathematics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- 1 Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,2 Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,3 BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,4 Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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Li Q, Schissler AG, Gardeux V, Achour I, Kenost C, Berghout J, Li H, Zhang HH, Lussier YA. N-of-1-pathways MixEnrich: advancing precision medicine via single-subject analysis in discovering dynamic changes of transcriptomes. BMC Med Genomics 2017; 10:27. [PMID: 28589853 PMCID: PMC5461551 DOI: 10.1186/s12920-017-0263-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Transcriptome analytic tools are commonly used across patient cohorts to develop drugs and predict clinical outcomes. However, as precision medicine pursues more accurate and individualized treatment decisions, these methods are not designed to address single-patient transcriptome analyses. We previously developed and validated the N-of-1-pathways framework using two methods, Wilcoxon and Mahalanobis Distance (MD), for personal transcriptome analysis derived from a pair of samples of a single patient. Although, both methods uncover concordantly dysregulated pathways, they are not designed to detect dysregulated pathways with up- and down-regulated genes (bidirectional dysregulation) that are ubiquitous in biological systems. Results We developed N-of-1-pathways MixEnrich, a mixture model followed by a gene set enrichment test, to uncover bidirectional and concordantly dysregulated pathways one patient at a time. We assess its accuracy in a comprehensive simulation study and in a RNA-Seq data analysis of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). In presence of bidirectionally dysregulated genes in the pathway or in presence of high background noise, MixEnrich substantially outperforms previous single-subject transcriptome analysis methods, both in the simulation study and the HNSCCs data analysis (ROC Curves; higher true positive rates; lower false positive rates). Bidirectional and concordant dysregulated pathways uncovered by MixEnrich in each patient largely overlapped with the quasi-gold standard compared to other single-subject and cohort-based transcriptome analyses. Conclusion The greater performance of MixEnrich presents an advantage over previous methods to meet the promise of providing accurate personal transcriptome analysis to support precision medicine at point of care. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12920-017-0263-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qike Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - A Grant Schissler
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Vincent Gardeux
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Colleen Kenost
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Joanne Berghout
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
| | - Hao Helen Zhang
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Department of Mathematics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,University of Arizona Cancer Center, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
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Wang B, He L, Miao W, Wu G, Jiang H, Wu Y, Qu J, Li M. Identification of key genes associated with Schmid-type metaphyseal chondrodysplasia based on microarray data. Int J Mol Med 2017; 39:1428-1436. [PMID: 28440393 PMCID: PMC5428963 DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2017.2954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2015] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to gain a better understanding of the molecular circuitry of Schmid-type metaphyseal chondrodysplasia (SMCD), and to identify more potential genes associated with the pathogenesis of SMCD. Microarray data from GSE72261 were downloaded from the NCBI GEO database, including collagen X p.Asn617Lys knock-in mutation (ColXN617K), ablated XBP1 activity (Xbp1CartΔEx2), compound mutant (C/X), and wild-type (WT) specimens. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened in Xbp1 vs. WT, Col vs. WT and CX vs. WT, respectively. Pathway enrichment analysis of these DEGs was performed. Transcription factors (TFs) of the overlapping DEGs were identified. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to find modules of DEGs with high correlations, followed by gene function analysis and a protein-protein interaction network construction. In total, 481, 1,530 and 1,214 DEGs were identified in Xbp1 vs. WT, Col vs. WT and CX vs. WT, respectively. These DEGs were enriched in different pathways, such as extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction and metabolism-related pathways. A total of 7 TFs were found to regulate 19 common upregulated genes, and 4 TFs were identified to regulate 21 common downregulated genes. Two significant gene co-expression modules were enriched and DEGs in the 2 modules were mainly enriched in different biological processes, such as ribosome biogenesis. Moreover, Kras (downregulated), Col5a1 (upregulated) and Furin (upregulated) were both identified in the regulatory networks and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. On the whole, our findings indicate that the Kras, Col5a1 and Furin genes may play essential roles in the molecular mechanisms of SMCD, which warrants further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Wang
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Li He
- Department of Child Health Care, Xi'an Children's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710003, P.R. China
| | - Wusheng Miao
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Ge Wu
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Hai Jiang
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Yongtao Wu
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Jining Qu
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
| | - Min Li
- Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, P.R. China
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Li Q, Schissler AG, Gardeux V, Berghout J, Achour I, Kenost C, Li H, Zhang HH, Lussier YA. kMEn: Analyzing noisy and bidirectional transcriptional pathway responses in single subjects. J Biomed Inform 2017; 66:32-41. [PMID: 28007582 PMCID: PMC5316373 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2016.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Revised: 10/28/2016] [Accepted: 12/16/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
MOTIVATION Understanding dynamic, patient-level transcriptomic response to therapy is an important step forward for precision medicine. However, conventional transcriptome analysis aims to discover cohort-level change, lacking the capacity to unveil patient-specific response to therapy. To address this gap, we previously developed two N-of-1-pathways methods, Wilcoxon and Mahalanobis distance, to detect unidirectionally responsive transcripts within a pathway using a pair of samples from a single subject. Yet, these methods cannot recognize bidirectionally (up and down) responsive pathways. Further, our previous approaches have not been assessed in presence of background noise and are not designed to identify differentially expressed mRNAs between two samples of a patient taken in different contexts (e.g. cancer vs non cancer), which we termed responsive transcripts (RTs). METHODS We propose a new N-of-1-pathways method, k-Means Enrichment (kMEn), that detects bidirectionally responsive pathways, despite background noise, using a pair of transcriptomes from a single patient. kMEn identifies transcripts responsive to the stimulus through k-means clustering and then tests for an over-representation of the responsive genes within each pathway. The pathways identified by kMEn are mechanistically interpretable pathways significantly responding to a stimulus. RESULTS In ∼9000 simulations varying six parameters, superior performance of kMEn over previous single-subject methods is evident by: (i) improved precision-recall at various levels of bidirectional response and (ii) lower rates of false positives (1-specificity) when more than 10% of genes in the genome are differentially expressed (background noise). In a clinical proof-of-concept, personal treatment-specific pathways identified by kMEn correlate with therapeutic response (p-value<0.01). CONCLUSION Through improved single-subject transcriptome dynamics of bidirectionally-regulated signals, kMEn provides a novel approach to identify mechanism-level biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qike Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - A Grant Schissler
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Vincent Gardeux
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Joanne Berghout
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Colleen Kenost
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Hao Helen Zhang
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Mathematics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; University of Arizona Cancer Center, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, The University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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Schissler AG, Gardeux V, Li Q, Achour I, Li H, Piegorsch WW, Lussier YA. Dynamic changes of RNA-sequencing expression for precision medicine: N-of-1-pathways Mahalanobis distance within pathways of single subjects predicts breast cancer survival. Bioinformatics 2015; 31:i293-302. [PMID: 26072495 PMCID: PMC4765863 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btv253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation: The conventional approach to personalized medicine relies on molecular data analytics across multiple patients. The path to precision medicine lies with molecular data analytics that can discover interpretable single-subject signals (N-of-1). We developed a global framework, N-of-1-pathways, for a mechanistic-anchored approach to single-subject gene expression data analysis. We previously employed a metric that could prioritize the statistical significance of a deregulated pathway in single subjects, however, it lacked in quantitative interpretability (e.g. the equivalent to a gene expression fold-change). Results: In this study, we extend our previous approach with the application of statistical Mahalanobis distance (MD) to quantify personal pathway-level deregulation. We demonstrate that this approach, N-of-1-pathways Paired Samples MD (N-OF-1-PATHWAYS-MD), detects deregulated pathways (empirical simulations), while not inflating false-positive rate using a study with biological replicates. Finally, we establish that N-OF-1-PATHWAYS-MD scores are, biologically significant, clinically relevant and are predictive of breast cancer survival (P < 0.05, n = 80 invasive carcinoma; TCGA RNA-sequences). Conclusion: N-of-1-pathways MD provides a practical approach towards precision medicine. The method generates the magnitude and the biological significance of personal deregulated pathways results derived solely from the patient’s transcriptome. These pathways offer the opportunities for deriving clinically actionable decisions that have the potential to complement the clinical interpretability of personal polymorphisms obtained from DNA acquired or inherited polymorphisms and mutations. In addition, it offers an opportunity for applicability to diseases in which DNA changes may not be relevant, and thus expand the ‘interpretable ‘omics’ of single subjects (e.g. personalome). Availability and implementation:http://www.lussierlab.net/publications/N-of-1-pathways. Contact:yves@email.arizona.edu or piegorsch@math.arizona.edu Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Grant Schissler
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Vincent Gardeux
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Qike Li
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Walter W Piegorsch
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA University of Arizona Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics (CB2), Tucson, AZ, USA, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics, Department of Medicine and BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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Affiliation(s)
- Ju Han Kim
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Systems Biomedical Informatics Research Center Seoul National University College of Medicine, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Republic of Korea
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Gardeux V, Bosco A, Li J, Halonen MJ, Jackson D, Martinez FD, Lussier YA. Towards a PBMC "virogram assay" for precision medicine: Concordance between ex vivo and in vivo viral infection transcriptomes. J Biomed Inform 2015; 55:94-103. [PMID: 25797143 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2015.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2014] [Revised: 02/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding individual patient host-response to viruses is key to designing optimal personalized therapy. Unsurprisingly, in vivo human experimentation to understand individualized dynamic response of the transcriptome to viruses are rarely studied because of the obvious limitations stemming from ethical considerations of the clinical risk. OBJECTIVE In this rhinovirus study, we first hypothesized that ex vivo human cells response to virus can serve as a proxy for otherwise controversial in vivo human experimentation. We further hypothesized that the N-of-1-pathways framework, previously validated in cancer, can be effective in understanding the more subtle individual transcriptomic response to viral infection. METHOD N-of-1-pathways computes a significance score for a given list of gene sets at the patient level, using merely the 'omics profiles of two paired samples as input. We extracted the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of four human subjects, aliquoted in two paired samples, one subjected to ex vivo rhinovirus infection. Their dysregulated genes and pathways were then compared to those of 9 human subjects prior and after intranasal inoculation in vivo with rhinovirus. Additionally, we developed the Similarity Venn Diagram, a novel visualization method that goes beyond conventional overlap to show the similarity between two sets of qualitative measures. RESULTS We evaluated the individual N-of-1-pathways results using two established cohort-based methods: GSEA and enrichment of differentially expressed genes. Similarity Venn Diagrams and individual patient ROC curves illustrate and quantify that the in vivo dysregulation is recapitulated ex vivo both at the gene and pathway level (p-values⩽0.004). CONCLUSION We established the first evidence that an interpretable dynamic transcriptome metric, conducted as an ex vivo assays for a single subject, has the potential to predict individualized response to infectious disease without the clinical risks otherwise associated to in vivo challenges. These results serve as a foundational work for personalized "virograms".
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Gardeux
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Anthony Bosco
- Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, Australia
| | - Jianrong Li
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | | | - Daniel Jackson
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; The Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network (CARE)
| | - Fernando D Martinez
- The Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network (CARE); Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
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Gardeux V, Achour I, Li J, Maienschein-Cline M, Li H, Pesce L, Parinandi G, Bahroos N, Winn R, Foster I, Garcia JGN, Lussier YA. 'N-of-1-pathways' unveils personal deregulated mechanisms from a single pair of RNA-Seq samples: towards precision medicine. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2014; 21:1015-25. [PMID: 25301808 PMCID: PMC4215042 DOI: 10.1136/amiajnl-2013-002519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The emergence of precision medicine allowed the incorporation of individual molecular data into patient care. Indeed, DNA sequencing predicts somatic mutations in individual patients. However, these genetic features overlook dynamic epigenetic and phenotypic response to therapy. Meanwhile, accurate personal transcriptome interpretation remains an unmet challenge. Further, N-of-1 (single-subject) efficacy trials are increasingly pursued, but are underpowered for molecular marker discovery. Method ‘N-of-1-pathways’ is a global framework relying on three principles: (i) the statistical universe is a single patient; (ii) significance is derived from geneset/biomodules powered by paired samples from the same patient; and (iii) similarity between genesets/biomodules assesses commonality and differences, within-study and cross-studies. Thus, patient gene-level profiles are transformed into deregulated pathways. From RNA-Seq of 55 lung adenocarcinoma patients, N-of-1-pathways predicts the deregulated pathways of each patient. Results Cross-patient N-of-1-pathways obtains comparable results with conventional genesets enrichment analysis (GSEA) and differentially expressed gene (DEG) enrichment, validated in three external evaluations. Moreover, heatmap and star plots highlight both individual and shared mechanisms ranging from molecular to organ-systems levels (eg, DNA repair, signaling, immune response). Patients were ranked based on the similarity of their deregulated mechanisms to those of an independent gold standard, generating unsupervised clusters of diametric extreme survival phenotypes (p=0.03). Conclusions The N-of-1-pathways framework provides a robust statistical and relevant biological interpretation of individual disease-free survival that is often overlooked in conventional cross-patient studies. It enables mechanism-level classifiers with smaller cohorts as well as N-of-1 studies. Software http://lussierlab.org/publications/N-of-1-pathways
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Gardeux
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Department of Informatics, School of Engineering, EISTI (École Internationale des Sciences du Traitement de l'Information), Cergy-Pontoise, France Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Ikbel Achour
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Jianrong Li
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Mark Maienschein-Cline
- Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Haiquan Li
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Lorenzo Pesce
- Computation Institute, Argonne National Laboratory & University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Gurunadh Parinandi
- Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Neil Bahroos
- Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Robert Winn
- Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA University of Illinois Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Ian Foster
- Computation Institute, Argonne National Laboratory & University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Joe G N Garcia
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Yves A Lussier
- Department of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, UA Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Translational Health Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Computation Institute, Argonne National Laboratory & University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA University of Illinois Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Department of Biopharmaceutical Science, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois, USA Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA Department of Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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