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Shang J, Zhu X, Sun Y, Li F, Kong X, Liu JX. DM-MOGA: a multi-objective optimization genetic algorithm for identifying disease modules of non-small cell lung cancer. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:13. [PMID: 36624376 PMCID: PMC9830734 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05136-z] [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: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Constructing molecular interaction networks from microarray data and then identifying disease module biomarkers can provide insight into the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of non-small cell lung cancer. A promising approach for identifying disease modules in the network is community detection. RESULTS In order to identify disease modules from gene co-expression networks, a community detection method is proposed based on multi-objective optimization genetic algorithm with decomposition. The method is named DM-MOGA and possesses two highlights. First, the boundary correction strategy is designed for the modules obtained in the process of local module detection and pre-simplification. Second, during the evolution, we introduce Davies-Bouldin index and clustering coefficient as fitness functions which are improved and migrated to weighted networks. In order to identify modules that are more relevant to diseases, the above strategies are designed to consider the network topology of genes and the strength of connections with other genes at the same time. Experimental results of different gene expression datasets of non-small cell lung cancer demonstrate that the core modules obtained by DM-MOGA are more effective than those obtained by several other advanced module identification methods. CONCLUSIONS The proposed method identifies disease-relevant modules by optimizing two novel fitness functions to simultaneously consider the local topology of each gene and its connection strength with other genes. The association of the identified core modules with lung cancer has been confirmed by pathway and gene ontology enrichment analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junliang Shang
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
| | - Xuhui Zhu
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
| | - Yan Sun
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
| | - Feng Li
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
| | - Xiangzhen Kong
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
| | - Jin-Xing Liu
- grid.412638.a0000 0001 0227 8151School of Computer Science, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826 China
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Chandra S, Leon RG. Genome-Wide Evolutionary Analysis of Putative Non-Specific Herbicide Resistance Genes and Compilation of Core Promoters between Monocots and Dicots. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13071171. [PMID: 35885954 PMCID: PMC9316059 DOI: 10.3390/genes13071171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Herbicides are key weed-control tools, but their repeated use across large areas has favored the evolution of herbicide resistance. Although target-site has been the most prevalent and studied type of resistance, non-target-site resistance (NTSR) is increasing. However, the genetic factors involved in NTSR are widely unknown. In this study, four gene groups encoding putative NTSR enzymes, namely, cytochrome-P450, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), uridine 5'-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT), and nitronate monooxygenase (NMO) were analyzed. The monocot and dicot gene sequences were downloaded from publicly available databases. Phylogenetic trees revealed that most of the CYP450 resistance-related sequences belong to CYP81 (5), and in GST, most of the resistance sequences belonged to GSTU18 (9) and GSTF6 (8) groups. In addition, the study of upstream promoter sequences of these NTSR genes revealed stress-related cis-regulatory motifs, as well as eight transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) were identified. The discovered TFBS were commonly present in both monocots and dicots, and the identified motifs are known to play key roles in countering abiotic stress. Further, we predicted the 3D structure for the resistant CYP450 and GST protein and identified the substrate recognition site through the homology approach. Our description of putative NTSR enzymes may be used to develop innovative weed control techniques to delay the evolution of NTSR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saket Chandra
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;
| | - Ramon G. Leon
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;
- Genetic Engineering and Society Center, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-919-515-5328
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Alcalá-Corona SA, Sandoval-Motta S, Espinal-Enríquez J, Hernández-Lemus E. Modularity in Biological Networks. Front Genet 2021; 12:701331. [PMID: 34594357 PMCID: PMC8477004 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.701331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Network modeling, from the ecological to the molecular scale has become an essential tool for studying the structure, dynamics and complex behavior of living systems. Graph representations of the relationships between biological components open up a wide variety of methods for discovering the mechanistic and functional properties of biological systems. Many biological networks are organized into a modular structure, so methods to discover such modules are essential if we are to understand the biological system as a whole. However, most of the methods used in biology to this end, have a limited applicability, as they are very specific to the system they were developed for. Conversely, from the statistical physics and network science perspective, graph modularity has been theoretically studied and several methods of a very general nature have been developed. It is our perspective that in particular for the modularity detection problem, biology and theoretical physics/network science are less connected than they should. The central goal of this review is to provide the necessary background and present the most applicable and pertinent methods for community detection in a way that motivates their further usage in biological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Antonio Alcalá-Corona
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico City, Mexico.,Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Santiago Sandoval-Motta
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico City, Mexico.,Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.,National Council on Science and Technology, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Jesús Espinal-Enríquez
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico City, Mexico.,Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Enrique Hernández-Lemus
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico City, Mexico.,Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
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A multi-objective genetic algorithm to find active modules in multiplex biological networks. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009263. [PMID: 34460810 PMCID: PMC8452006 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The identification of subnetworks of interest—or active modules—by integrating biological networks with molecular profiles is a key resource to inform on the processes perturbed in different cellular conditions. We here propose MOGAMUN, a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm to identify active modules in MUltiplex biological Networks. MOGAMUN optimizes both the density of interactions and the scores of the nodes (e.g., their differential expression). We compare MOGAMUN with state-of-the-art methods, representative of different algorithms dedicated to the identification of active modules in single networks. MOGAMUN identifies dense and high-scoring modules that are also easier to interpret. In addition, to our knowledge, MOGAMUN is the first method able to use multiplex networks. Multiplex networks are composed of different layers of physical and functional relationships between genes and proteins. Each layer is associated to its own meaning, topology, and biases; the multiplex framework allows exploiting this diversity of biological networks. We applied MOGAMUN to identify cellular processes perturbed in Facio-Scapulo-Humeral muscular Dystrophy, by integrating RNA-seq expression data with a multiplex biological network. We identified different active modules of interest, thereby providing new angles for investigating the pathomechanisms of this disease. Availability: MOGAMUN is available at https://github.com/elvanov/MOGAMUN and as a Bioconductor package at https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/MOGAMUN.html. Contact:anais.baudot@univ-amu.fr Integrating different sources of biological information is a powerful way to uncover the functioning of biological systems. In network biology, in particular, integrating interaction data with expression profiles helps contextualizing the networks and identifying subnetworks of interest, aka active modules. We here propose MOGAMUN, a multi-objective genetic algorithm that optimizes both the overall deregulation and the density to identify active modules, considering jointly multiple sources of biological interactions. We demonstrate the performance of MOGAMUN over state-of-the-art methods, and illustrate its usefulness in unveiling perturbed biological processes in Facio-Scapulo-Humeral muscular Dystrophy.
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Li D, Yang Y, Yin X, Liu Y, Xu H, Ni Y, Hang P, Niu S, Zhang H, Ding W, Kuang H. Glucagon-like peptide (GLP) -2 improved colonizing bacteria and reduced severity of ulcerative colitis by enhancing the diversity and abundance of intestinal mucosa. Bioengineered 2021; 12:5195-5209. [PMID: 34402720 PMCID: PMC8806733 DOI: 10.1080/21655979.2021.1958600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The global incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) continues to increase while it’s clinical cure rate remains low. Intestinal mucosal ulcers have segmental distribution and variable severity. Intestinal bacteria are closely related to intestinal immunity and metabolism; however, the relationship between intestinal microbiome profile and the occurrence of UC, as well as the contribution of glucose metabolism, are not well understood. This was investigated in the present study using mucosal biopsies from patients with UC and healthy control subjects. We performed high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing to estimate microbiota composition and abundance as well as their association with clinical indices such as lesion severity. The results showed that the diversity and abundance of intestinal microbiota were significantly lower in patients with UC than in healthy subjects; however, these were unrelated to ulcer severity. Serum glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) level was associated with reduced microbiota diversity and abundance in UC. These results indicate that colonization by specific microbiota is not the main determinant of pathologic status in UC. Additionally, therapeutic strategies that increase GLP-2 levels in intestinal mucosa may be effective in the treatment of UC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongyue Li
- Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin Heilong Jiang Province, People's Republic of China
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Hongyu Kuang
- Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin Heilong Jiang Province, People's Republic of China
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Dutta D, VandeHaar P, Fritsche LG, Zöllner S, Boehnke M, Scott LJ, Lee S. A powerful subset-based method identifies gene set associations and improves interpretation in UK Biobank. Am J Hum Genet 2021; 108:669-681. [PMID: 33730541 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Tests of association between a phenotype and a set of genes in a biological pathway can provide insights into the genetic architecture of complex phenotypes beyond those obtained from single-variant or single-gene association analysis. However, most existing gene set tests have limited power to detect gene set-phenotype association when a small fraction of the genes are associated with the phenotype and cannot identify the potentially "active" genes that might drive a gene set-based association. To address these issues, we have developed Gene set analysis Association Using Sparse Signals (GAUSS), a method for gene set association analysis that requires only GWAS summary statistics. For each significantly associated gene set, GAUSS identifies the subset of genes that have the maximal evidence of association and can best account for the gene set association. Using pre-computed correlation structure among test statistics from a reference panel, our p value calculation is substantially faster than other permutation- or simulation-based approaches. In simulations with varying proportions of causal genes, we find that GAUSS effectively controls type 1 error rate and has greater power than several existing methods, particularly when a small proportion of genes account for the gene set signal. Using GAUSS, we analyzed UK Biobank GWAS summary statistics for 10,679 gene sets and 1,403 binary phenotypes. We found that GAUSS is scalable and identified 13,466 phenotype and gene set association pairs. Within these gene sets, we identify an average of 17.2 (max = 405) genes that underlie these gene set associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diptavo Dutta
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Peter VandeHaar
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Lars G Fritsche
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Sebastian Zöllner
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Michael Boehnke
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Laura J Scott
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Seunggeun Lee
- Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Graduate School of Data Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
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7
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Gazouli M, Dovrolis N, Franke A, Spyrou GM, Sechi LA, Kolios G. Differential genetic and functional background in inflammatory bowel disease phenotypes of a Greek population: a systems bioinformatics approach. Gut Pathog 2019; 11:31. [PMID: 31249629 PMCID: PMC6570833 DOI: 10.1186/s13099-019-0312-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two main entities of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Previous works have identified more than 200 risk factors (including loci and signaling pathways) in populations of predominantly European ancestry. Our study was conducted on an extended population-specific cohort of 573 Greek IBD patients (364 CD and 209 UC) and 445 controls. Aims To highlight the different genetic and functional background of IBD and its phenotypes, utilizing contemporary systems bioinformatics methodologies. Methods Disease-associated SNPs, obtained via our own 89 loci IBD risk GWAS panel, were detected with the whole genome association analysis toolset PLINK. These SNPs were used as input for 2 novel and different pathway analysis methods to detect functional interactions. Specifically, PathwayConnector was used to create complementary networks of interacting pathways whereas; the online database of protein interactions STRING provided protein–protein association networks and their derived pathways. Network analyses metrics were employed to identify proteins with high significance and subsequently to rank the signaling pathways those participate in. Results The reported complementary pathway and enriched protein–protein association networks reveal several novel and well-known key players, in the functional background of IBD like Toll-like receptor, TNF, Jak-STAT, PI3K-Akt, T cell receptor, Apoptosis, MAPK and B cell receptor signaling pathways. IBD subphenotypes are found to have distinct genetic and functional profiles which can contribute to their accurate identification and classification. As a secondary result we identify an extended network of diseases with common molecular background to IBD. Conclusions IBD’s burden on the quality of life of patients and intricate functional background presents us constantly with new challenges. Our data and methodology provide researchers with new insights to a specific population, but also, to possible differentiation markers of disease classification and progression. This work, not only provides new insights into the interplay among IBD risk variants and their related signaling pathways, elucidates the mechanisms underlying IBD and its clinical sequelae, but also, introduces a generalized bioinformatics-based methodology which can be applied to studies of different disorders. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13099-019-0312-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Gazouli
- 1Laboratory of Biology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Michalakopoulou 176, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Nikolas Dovrolis
- 2Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece
| | - Andre Franke
- 3Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - George M Spyrou
- 4Bioinformatics ERA Chair, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Leonardo A Sechi
- 5Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - George Kolios
- 2Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece
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Gaetani E, Del Zompo F, Marcantoni M, Gatto I, Giarretta I, Porfidia A, Scaldaferri F, Laterza L, Lopetuso L, Gasbarrini A, Pola R. Microparticles Produced by Activated Platelets Carry a Potent and Functionally Active Angiogenic Signal in Subjects with Crohn's Disease. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:ijms19102921. [PMID: 30261608 PMCID: PMC6212893 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19102921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2018] [Revised: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 09/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Microparticles (MPs) are submicron vesicles shed from various cell types upon activation, stimulation, and death. Activated platelets are an important source of circulating MPs in subjects with inflammatory diseases, including Crohn’s disease (CD). Angiogenesis is a hallmark of inflammation in CD and plays an active role in sustaining disease progression, while targeting angiogenesis may be an effective approach to block colitis. In this study, we analyzed the angiogenic content of the MPs produced by activated platelets in subjects with CD. We also evaluated whether the angiogenic signal carried by these MPs was functionally active, or able to induce angiogenesis. We found that, in subjects with CD, MPs produced by activated platelets contain significantly higher levels of angiogenic mRNAs, such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor-α (PDGFα), fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2), and angiopoietin-1 (ANGPT1), compared to MPs isolated from control subjects. They also contain significantly higher levels of prototypical angiogenic proteins, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietin-1, endoglin, endothelin-1, pentraxin 3, platelet factor-4, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1), and thrombospondin 1. The protein content of these MPs is functionally active, since it has the ability to induce a robust angiogenic process in an endothelial cell/interstitial cell co-culture in vitro assay. Our results reveal a potential novel mechanism through which the angiogenic signal is delivered in subjects with CD, with potentially important clinical and therapeutic implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora Gaetani
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Fabio Del Zompo
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Margherita Marcantoni
- Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Ilaria Gatto
- Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Igor Giarretta
- Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Angelo Porfidia
- Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Franco Scaldaferri
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Lucrezia Laterza
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Loris Lopetuso
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Antonio Gasbarrini
- Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
| | - Roberto Pola
- Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy.
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Bellera CL, Di Ianni ME, Talevi A. The application of molecular topology for ulcerative colitis drug discovery. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2017; 13:89-101. [PMID: 29088918 DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2018.1396314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Although the therapeutic arsenal against ulcerative colitis has greatly expanded (including the revolutionary advent of biologics), there remain patients who are refractory to current medications while the safety of the available therapeutics could also be improved. Molecular topology provides a theoretic framework for the discovery of new therapeutic agents in a very efficient manner, and its applications in the field of ulcerative colitis have slowly begun to flourish. Areas covered: After discussing the basics of molecular topology, the authors review QSAR models focusing on validated targets for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, entirely or partially based on topological descriptors. Expert opinion: The application of molecular topology to ulcerative colitis drug discovery is still very limited, and many of the existing reports seem to be strictly theoretic, with no experimental validation or practical applications. Interestingly, mechanism-independent models based on phenotypic responses have recently been reported. Such models are in agreement with the recent interest raised by network pharmacology as a potential solution for complex disorders. These and other similar studies applying molecular topology suggest that some therapeutic categories may present a 'topological pattern' that goes beyond a specific mechanism of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina L Bellera
- a Medicinal Chemistry/Laboratory of Bioactive Research and Development, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences , University of La Plata (UNLP) , La Plata , Buenos Aires , Argentina
| | - Mauricio E Di Ianni
- a Medicinal Chemistry/Laboratory of Bioactive Research and Development, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences , University of La Plata (UNLP) , La Plata , Buenos Aires , Argentina
| | - Alan Talevi
- a Medicinal Chemistry/Laboratory of Bioactive Research and Development, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences , University of La Plata (UNLP) , La Plata , Buenos Aires , Argentina
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10
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Recent Advances in the Etiopathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The Role of Omics. Mol Diagn Ther 2017; 22:11-23. [DOI: 10.1007/s40291-017-0298-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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11
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Prior knowledge guided active modules identification: an integrated multi-objective approach. BMC SYSTEMS BIOLOGY 2017; 11:8. [PMID: 28361699 PMCID: PMC5374590 DOI: 10.1186/s12918-017-0388-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Active module, defined as an area in biological network that shows striking changes in molecular activity or phenotypic signatures, is important to reveal dynamic and process-specific information that is correlated with cellular or disease states. METHODS A prior information guided active module identification approach is proposed to detect modules that are both active and enriched by prior knowledge. We formulate the active module identification problem as a multi-objective optimisation problem, which consists two conflicting objective functions of maximising the coverage of known biological pathways and the activity of the active module simultaneously. Network is constructed from protein-protein interaction database. A beta-uniform-mixture model is used to estimate the distribution of p-values and generate scores for activity measurement from microarray data. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to search for Pareto optimal solutions. We also incorporate a novel constraints based on algebraic connectivity to ensure the connectedness of the identified active modules. RESULTS Application of proposed algorithm on a small yeast molecular network shows that it can identify modules with high activities and with more cross-talk nodes between related functional groups. The Pareto solutions generated by the algorithm provides solutions with different trade-off between prior knowledge and novel information from data. The approach is then applied on microarray data from diclofenac-treated yeast cells to build network and identify modules to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of diclofenac toxicity and resistance. Gene ontology analysis is applied to the identified modules for biological interpretation. CONCLUSIONS Integrating knowledge of functional groups into the identification of active module is an effective method and provides a flexible control of balance between pure data-driven method and prior information guidance.
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Mahmood K, Mathiassen SK, Kristensen M, Kudsk P. Multiple Herbicide Resistance in Lolium multiflorum and Identification of Conserved Regulatory Elements of Herbicide Resistance Genes. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2016; 7:1160. [PMID: 27547209 PMCID: PMC4974277 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2016] [Accepted: 07/19/2016] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Herbicide resistance is a ubiquitous challenge to herbicide sustainability and a looming threat to control weeds in crops. Recently four genes were found constituently over-expressed in herbicide resistant individuals of Lolium rigidum, a close relative of Lolium multiflorum. These include two cytochrome P450s, one nitronate monooxygenase and one glycosyl-transferase. Higher expressions of these four herbicide metabolism related (HMR) genes were also observed after herbicides exposure in the gene expression databases, indicating them as reliable markers. In order to get an overview of herbicidal resistance status of L. multiflorum L, 19 field populations were collected. Among these populations, four populations were found to be resistant to acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors while three exhibited resistance to acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) inhibitors in our initial screening and dose response study. The genotyping showed the presence of mutations Trp-574-Leu and Ile-2041-Asn in ALS and ACCase, respectively, and qPCR experiments revealed the enhanced expression of HMR genes in individuals of certain resistant populations. Moreover, co-expression networks and promoter analyses of HMR genes in O. sativa and A. thaliana resulted in the identification of a cis-regulatory motif and zinc finger transcription factors. The identified transcription factors were highly expressed similar to HMR genes in response to xenobiotics whereas the identified motif is known to play a vital role in coping with environmental stresses and maintaining genome stability. Overall, our findings provide an important step forward toward a better understanding of metabolism-based herbicide resistance that can be utilized to devise novel strategies of weed management.
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