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Xie J, Chen Y, Luo S, Yang W, Lin Y, Wang L, Ding X, Tong M, Yu R. Tracing unknown tumor origins with a biological-pathway-based transformer model. CELL REPORTS METHODS 2024; 4:100797. [PMID: 38889685 PMCID: PMC11228371 DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2024.100797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) represents metastatic cancer where the primary site remains unidentified despite standard diagnostic procedures. To determine the tumor origin in such cases, we developed BPformer, a deep learning method integrating the transformer model with prior knowledge of biological pathways. Trained on transcriptomes from 10,410 primary tumors across 32 cancer types, BPformer achieved remarkable accuracy rates of 94%, 92%, and 89% in primary tumors and primary and metastatic sites of metastatic tumors, respectively, surpassing existing methods. Additionally, BPformer was validated in a retrospective study, demonstrating consistency with tumor sites diagnosed through immunohistochemistry and histopathology. Furthermore, BPformer was able to rank pathways based on their contribution to tumor origin identification, which helped to classify oncogenic signaling pathways into those that are highly conservative among different cancers versus those that are highly variable depending on their origins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiajing Xie
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Ying Chen
- School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China
| | - Shijie Luo
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Wenxian Yang
- Aginome Scientific, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China
| | - Yuxiang Lin
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Liansheng Wang
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China; School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China
| | - Xin Ding
- Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361004, China.
| | - Mengsha Tong
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China; State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China.
| | - Rongshan Yu
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China; School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China; Aginome Scientific, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.
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Liu J, Yang M, Yu Y, Xu H, Li K, Zhou X. Large language models in bioinformatics: applications and perspectives. ARXIV 2024:arXiv:2401.04155v1. [PMID: 38259343 PMCID: PMC10802675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) are a class of artificial intelligence models based on deep learning, which have great performance in various tasks, especially in natural language processing (NLP). Large language models typically consist of artificial neural networks with numerous parameters, trained on large amounts of unlabeled input using self-supervised or semi-supervised learning. However, their potential for solving bioinformatics problems may even exceed their proficiency in modeling human language. In this review, we will present a summary of the prominent large language models used in natural language processing, such as BERT and GPT, and focus on exploring the applications of large language models at different omics levels in bioinformatics, mainly including applications of large language models in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, drug discovery and single cell analysis. Finally, this review summarizes the potential and prospects of large language models in solving bioinformatic problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiajia Liu
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA
| | - Mengyuan Yang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China
| | - Yankai Yu
- School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611756, China
| | - Haixia Xu
- The Center of Gerontology and Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
- West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Kang Li
- West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Xiaobo Zhou
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA
- McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- School of Dentistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
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HELLER GERWIN, FUEREDER THORSTEN, GRANDITS ALEXANDERMICHAEL, WIESER ROTRAUD. New perspectives on biology, disease progression, and therapy response of head and neck cancer gained from single cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics. Oncol Res 2023; 32:1-17. [PMID: 38188682 PMCID: PMC10767240 DOI: 10.32604/or.2023.044774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most frequent cancers worldwide. The main risk factors are consumption of tobacco products and alcohol, as well as infection with human papilloma virus. Approved therapeutic options comprise surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, targeted therapy through epidermal growth factor receptor inhibition, and immunotherapy, but outcome has remained unsatisfactory due to recurrence rates of ~50% and the frequent occurrence of second primaries. The availability of the human genome sequence at the beginning of the millennium heralded the omics era, in which rapid technological progress has advanced our knowledge of the molecular biology of malignant diseases, including HNSCC, at an unprecedented pace. Initially, microarray-based methods, followed by approaches based on next-generation sequencing, were applied to study the genetics, epigenetics, and gene expression patterns of bulk tumors. More recently, the advent of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and spatial transcriptomics methods has facilitated the investigation of the heterogeneity between and within different cell populations in the tumor microenvironment (e.g., cancer cells, fibroblasts, immune cells, endothelial cells), led to the discovery of novel cell types, and advanced the discovery of cell-cell communication within tumors. This review provides an overview of scRNAseq, spatial transcriptomics, and the associated bioinformatics methods, and summarizes how their application has promoted our understanding of the emergence, composition, progression, and therapy responsiveness of, and intercellular signaling within, HNSCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- GERWIN HELLER
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
| | - THORSTEN FUEREDER
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
| | | | - ROTRAUD WIESER
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
- Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
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Lazaros K, Vlamos P, Vrahatis AG. Methods for cell-type annotation on scRNA-seq data: A recent overview. J Bioinform Comput Biol 2023; 21:2340002. [PMID: 37743364 DOI: 10.1142/s0219720023400024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of single-cell technology is ongoing, continually generating massive amounts of data that reveal many mysteries surrounding intricate diseases. However, their drawbacks continue to constrain us. Among these, annotating cell types in single-cell gene expressions pose a substantial challenge, despite the myriad of tools at our disposal. The rapid growth in data, resources, and tools has consequently brought about significant alterations in this area over the years. In our study, we spotlight all note-worthy cell type annotation techniques developed over the past four years. We provide an overview of the latest trends in this field, showcasing the most advanced methods in taxonomy. Our research underscores the demand for additional tools that incorporate a biological context and also predicts that the rising trend of graph neural network approaches will likely lead this research field in the coming years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantinos Lazaros
- Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Corfu, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Vlamos
- Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Corfu, Greece
| | - Aristidis G Vrahatis
- Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Corfu, Greece
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