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Qi T, Song L, Guo Y, Chen C, Yang J. From genetic associations to genes: methods, applications, and challenges. Trends Genet 2024:S0168-9525(24)00095-7. [PMID: 38734482 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous genetic loci associated with human traits and diseases. However, pinpointing the causal genes remains a challenge, which impedes the translation of GWAS findings into biological insights and medical applications. In this review, we provide an in-depth overview of the methods and technologies used for prioritizing genes from GWAS loci, including gene-based association tests, integrative analysis of GWAS and molecular quantitative trait loci (xQTL) data, linking GWAS variants to target genes through enhancer-gene connection maps, and network-based prioritization. We also outline strategies for generating context-dependent xQTL data and their applications in gene prioritization. We further highlight the potential of gene prioritization in drug repurposing. Lastly, we discuss future challenges and opportunities in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Qi
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China; School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China.
| | - Liyang Song
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China; School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China
| | - Yazhou Guo
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China; School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China
| | - Chang Chen
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China; School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China
| | - Jian Yang
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China; School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China.
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2
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Pinakhina D, Loboda A, Sergushichev A, Artomov M. Gene, cell type, and drug prioritization analysis suggest genetic basis for the utility of diuretics in treating Alzheimer disease. HGG ADVANCES 2023; 4:100203. [PMID: 37250495 PMCID: PMC10209737 DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2023.100203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
We introduce a user-friendly tool for risk gene, cell type, and drug prioritization for complex traits: GCDPipe. It uses gene-level GWAS-derived data and gene expression data to train a model for the identification of disease risk genes and relevant cell types. Gene prioritization information is then coupled with known drug target data to search for applicable drug agents based on their estimated functional effects on the identified risk genes. We illustrate the utility of our approach in different settings: identification of the cell types, implicated in disease pathogenesis, was tested in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Alzheimer disease (AD); gene target and drug prioritization was tested in IBD and schizophrenia. The analysis of phenotypes with known disease-affected cell types and/or existing drug candidates shows that GCDPipe is an effective tool to unify genetic risk factors with cellular context and known drug targets. Next, analysis of the AD data with GCDPipe suggested that gene targets of diuretics, as an Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical drug subgroup, are significantly enriched among the genes prioritized by GCDPipe, indicating their possible effect on the course of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria Pinakhina
- ITMO University, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Bekhterev National Medical Research Center, 192019 Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Alexander Loboda
- ITMO University, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Almazov National Medical Research Center, 191014 Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | | | - Mykyta Artomov
- ITMO University, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- The Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
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3
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Garana BB, Joly JH, Delfarah A, Hong H, Graham NA. Drug mechanism enrichment analysis improves prioritization of therapeutics for repurposing. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:215. [PMID: 37226094 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05343-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is a pressing need for improved methods to identify effective therapeutics for diseases. Many computational approaches have been developed to repurpose existing drugs to meet this need. However, these tools often output long lists of candidate drugs that are difficult to interpret, and individual drug candidates may suffer from unknown off-target effects. We reasoned that an approach which aggregates information from multiple drugs that share a common mechanism of action (MOA) would increase on-target signal compared to evaluating drugs on an individual basis. In this study, we present drug mechanism enrichment analysis (DMEA), an adaptation of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), which groups drugs with shared MOAs to improve the prioritization of drug repurposing candidates. RESULTS First, we tested DMEA on simulated data and showed that it can sensitively and robustly identify an enriched drug MOA. Next, we used DMEA on three types of rank-ordered drug lists: (1) perturbagen signatures based on gene expression data, (2) drug sensitivity scores based on high-throughput cancer cell line screening, and (3) molecular classification scores of intrinsic and acquired drug resistance. In each case, DMEA detected the expected MOA as well as other relevant MOAs. Furthermore, the rankings of MOAs generated by DMEA were better than the original single-drug rankings in all tested data sets. Finally, in a drug discovery experiment, we identified potential senescence-inducing and senolytic drug MOAs for primary human mammary epithelial cells and then experimentally validated the senolytic effects of EGFR inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS DMEA is a versatile bioinformatic tool that can improve the prioritization of candidates for drug repurposing. By grouping drugs with a shared MOA, DMEA increases on-target signal and reduces off-target effects compared to analysis of individual drugs. DMEA is publicly available as both a web application and an R package at https://belindabgarana.github.io/DMEA .
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda B Garana
- Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, 3710 McClintock Ave., RTH 509, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
| | - James H Joly
- Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, 3710 McClintock Ave., RTH 509, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
- Nautilus Biotechnology, San Carlos, CA, USA
| | - Alireza Delfarah
- Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, 3710 McClintock Ave., RTH 509, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
- Calico Life Sciences, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Hyunjun Hong
- Department of Computer Science, Information Systems, and Applications, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Nicholas A Graham
- Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, 3710 McClintock Ave., RTH 509, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
- Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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4
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Fusar-Poli P, Manchia M, Koutsouleris N, Leslie D, Woopen C, Calkins ME, Dunn M, Tourneau CL, Mannikko M, Mollema T, Oliver D, Rietschel M, Reininghaus EZ, Squassina A, Valmaggia L, Kessing LV, Vieta E, Correll CU, Arango C, Andreassen OA. Ethical considerations for precision psychiatry: A roadmap for research and clinical practice. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2022; 63:17-34. [PMID: 36041245 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Precision psychiatry is an emerging field with transformative opportunities for mental health. However, the use of clinical prediction models carries unprecedented ethical challenges, which must be addressed before accessing the potential benefits of precision psychiatry. This critical review covers multidisciplinary areas, including psychiatry, ethics, statistics and machine-learning, healthcare and academia, as well as input from people with lived experience of mental disorders, their family, and carers. We aimed to identify core ethical considerations for precision psychiatry and mitigate concerns by designing a roadmap for research and clinical practice. We identified priorities: learning from somatic medicine; identifying precision psychiatry use cases; enhancing transparency and generalizability; fostering implementation; promoting mental health literacy; communicating risk estimates; data protection and privacy; and fostering the equitable distribution of mental health care. We hope this blueprint will advance research and practice and enable people with mental health problems to benefit from precision psychiatry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Fusar-Poli
- Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Mirko Manchia
- Section of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Unit of Clinical Psychiatry, University Hospital Agency of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | | | | | | | - Monica E Calkins
- Neurodevelopment and Psychosis Section and Lifespan Brain Institute of Penn/CHOP, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Michael Dunn
- Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
| | - Christophe Le Tourneau
- Institut Curie, Department of Drug Development and Innovation (D3i), INSERM U900 Research unit, Paris-Saclay University, France
| | - Miia Mannikko
- European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness (EUFAMI), Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tineke Mollema
- Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks-Europe (GAMIAN), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Dominic Oliver
- Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Marcella Rietschel
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Eva Z Reininghaus
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Alessio Squassina
- Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Lucia Valmaggia
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; Department of Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lars Vedel Kessing
- Copenhagen Affective disorder Research Center (CADIC), Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Eduard Vieta
- Hospital Clinic, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Christoph U Correll
- The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA; Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience; The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Celso Arango
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Gregorio Marañón; Health Research Institute (IiGSM), School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Biomedical Research Center for Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain
| | - Ole A Andreassen
- NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo and Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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Gyori BM, Hoyt CT. PyBioPAX: biological pathway exchange in Python. JOURNAL OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE 2022; 7:4136. [PMID: 36071952 PMCID: PMC9447860 DOI: 10.21105/joss.04136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
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Golriz Khatami S, Mubeen S, Bharadhwaj VS, Kodamullil AT, Hofmann-Apitius M, Domingo-Fernández D. Using predictive machine learning models for drug response simulation by calibrating patient-specific pathway signatures. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2021; 7:40. [PMID: 34707117 PMCID: PMC8551267 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-021-00199-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The utility of pathway signatures lies in their capability to determine whether a specific pathway or biological process is dysregulated in a given patient. These signatures have been widely used in machine learning (ML) methods for a variety of applications including precision medicine, drug repurposing, and drug discovery. In this work, we leverage highly predictive ML models for drug response simulation in individual patients by calibrating the pathway activity scores of disease samples. Using these ML models and an intuitive scoring algorithm to modify the signatures of patients, we evaluate whether a given sample that was formerly classified as diseased, could be predicted as normal following drug treatment simulation. We then use this technique as a proxy for the identification of potential drug candidates. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of our methodology to successfully identify approved and clinically investigated drugs for four different cancers, outperforming six comparable state-of-the-art methods. We also show how this approach can deconvolute a drugs' mechanism of action and propose combination therapies. Taken together, our methodology could be promising to support clinical decision-making in personalized medicine by simulating a drugs' effect on a given patient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sepehr Golriz Khatami
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany.
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany.
| | - Sarah Mubeen
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany
- Fraunhofer Center for Machine Learning, Sankt Augustin, Germany
| | - Vinay Srinivas Bharadhwaj
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Alpha Tom Kodamullil
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany
| | - Martin Hofmann-Apitius
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Daniel Domingo-Fernández
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin, 53757, Germany.
- Fraunhofer Center for Machine Learning, Sankt Augustin, Germany.
- Enveda Biosciences, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA.
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7
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Reay WR, Cairns MJ. Advancing the use of genome-wide association studies for drug repurposing. Nat Rev Genet 2021; 22:658-671. [PMID: 34302145 DOI: 10.1038/s41576-021-00387-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed important biological insights into complex diseases, which are broadly expected to lead to the identification of new drug targets and opportunities for treatment. Drug development, however, remains hampered by the time taken and costs expended to achieve regulatory approval, leading many clinicians and researchers to consider alternative paths to more immediate clinical outcomes. In this Review, we explore approaches that leverage common variant genetics to identify opportunities for repurposing existing drugs, also known as drug repositioning. These approaches include the identification of compounds by linking individual loci to genes and pathways that can be pharmacologically modulated, transcriptome-wide association studies, gene-set association, causal inference by Mendelian randomization, and polygenic scoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- William R Reay
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.,Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Murray J Cairns
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia. .,Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
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8
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Prieto Santamaría L, Ugarte Carro E, Díaz Uzquiano M, Menasalvas Ruiz E, Pérez Gallardo Y, Rodríguez-González A. A data-driven methodology towards evaluating the potential of drug repurposing hypotheses. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021; 19:4559-4573. [PMID: 34471499 PMCID: PMC8387760 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug repurposing has become a widely used strategy to accelerate the process of finding treatments. While classical de novo drug development involves high costs, risks, and time-consuming paths, drug repurposing allows to reuse already-existing and approved drugs for new indications. Numerous research has been carried out in this field, both in vitro and in silico. Computational drug repurposing methods make use of modern heterogeneous biomedical data to identify and prioritize new indications for old drugs. In the current paper, we present a new complete methodology to evaluate new potentially repurposable drugs based on disease-gene and disease-phenotype associations, identifying significant differences between repurposing and non-repurposing data. We have collected a set of known successful drug repurposing case studies from the literature and we have analysed their dissimilarities with other biomedical data not necessarily participating in repurposing processes. The information used has been obtained from the DISNET platform. We have performed three analyses (at the genetical, phenotypical, and categorization levels), to conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between actual repurposing-related information and non-repurposing data. The insights obtained could be relevant when suggesting new potential drug repurposing hypotheses.
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Key Words
- ACE, Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme
- AHR, Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor
- ALK, Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase
- API, Application Programming Interface
- CMap, Connectivity Map
- COX-2, Cyclooxygenase 2
- CUI, Concept Unique Identifier
- DISNET knowledge base
- DR, Drug Repurposing or Drug Repositioning
- DRD3, Dopamine Receptor D3
- Data integration
- Disease understanding
- Drug repositioning
- Drug repurposing
- Drug-disease validation
- ESR1, Estrogen Receptor 1
- ESR2, Estrogen Receptor 2
- FCGR2A, Fc Fragment Of IgG Receptor IIa
- FCGR3A, Fc Fragment Of IgG Receptor IIIa
- FCGR3B, Fc Fragment Of IgG Receptor IIIb
- GDA, Gene Disease Association
- ICD-10-CM, International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, Clinical Modification
- ID, Identifier
- KDR, Kinase insert Domain Receptor
- LTα, Lymphotoxin alpha
- MeSH-PA, Medical Subject Headings – Pharmacological Action
- ND, New Disease
- NLM, National Library of Medicine
- OD, Original Disease
- PTGS2, Prostaglandin-endoperoxidase synthase 2
- SM, Supplementary Material
- SRD5A1, Steroid 5 Alpha-Reductase 1
- SRD5A2, Steroid 5 Alpha-Reductase 2
- TNFα, Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha
- UMLS, Unified Medical Language System
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucía Prieto Santamaría
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain.,ETS Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain.,Ezeris Networks Global Services S.L., 28028 Madrid, Spain
| | - Esther Ugarte Carro
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marina Díaz Uzquiano
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ernestina Menasalvas Ruiz
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain.,ETS Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Alejandro Rodríguez-González
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain.,ETS Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
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Golriz Khatami S, Domingo-Fernández D, Mubeen S, Hoyt CT, Robinson C, Karki R, Iyappan A, Kodamullil AT, Hofmann-Apitius M. A Systems Biology Approach for Hypothesizing the Effect of Genetic Variants on Neuroimaging Features in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2021; 80:831-840. [PMID: 33554913 PMCID: PMC8075382 DOI: 10.3233/jad-201397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neuroimaging markers provide quantitative insight into brain structure and function in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, where we lack mechanistic insights to explain pathophysiology. These mechanisms are often mediated by genes and genetic variations and are often studied through the lens of genome-wide association studies. Linking these two disparate layers (i.e., imaging and genetic variation) through causal relationships between biological entities involved in the disease's etiology would pave the way to large-scale mechanistic reasoning and interpretation. OBJECTIVE We explore how genetic variants may lead to functional alterations of intermediate molecular traits, which can further impact neuroimaging hallmarks over a series of biological processes across multiple scales. METHODS We present an approach in which knowledge pertaining to single nucleotide polymorphisms and imaging readouts is extracted from the literature, encoded in Biological Expression Language, and used in a novel workflow to assist in the functional interpretation of SNPs in a clinical context. RESULTS We demonstrate our approach in a case scenario which proposes KANSL1 as a candidate gene that accounts for the clinically reported correlation between the incidence of the genetic variants and hippocampal atrophy. We find that the workflow prioritizes multiple mechanisms reported in the literature through which KANSL1 may have an impact on hippocampal atrophy such as through the dysregulation of cell proliferation, synaptic plasticity, and metabolic processes. CONCLUSION We have presented an approach that enables pinpointing relevant genetic variants as well as investigating their functional role in biological processes spanning across several, diverse biological scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sepehr Golriz Khatami
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Daniel Domingo-Fernández
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
| | - Sarah Mubeen
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Charles Tapley Hoyt
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
| | - Christine Robinson
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Reagon Karki
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Anandhi Iyappan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Alpha Tom Kodamullil
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Martin Hofmann-Apitius
- Department of Bioinformatics, Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (Fraunhofer SCAI), Sankt Augustin, Germany
- Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
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