A key goal of cancer systems biology is to use big data to elucidate the molecular networks by which cancer develops. However, to date there has been no systematic evaluation of how far these efforts ...have progressed. In this Analysis, we survey six major systems biology approaches for mapping and modelling cancer pathways with attention to how well their resulting network maps cover and enhance current knowledge. Our sample of 2,070 systems biology maps captures all literature-curated cancer pathways with significant enrichment, although the strong tendency is for these maps to recover isolated mechanisms rather than entire integrated processes. Systems biology maps also identify previously underappreciated functions, such as a potential role for human papillomavirus-induced chromosomal alterations in ovarian tumorigenesis, and they add new genes to known cancer pathways, such as those related to metabolism, Hippo signalling and immunity. Notably, we find that many cancer networks have been provided only in journal figures and not for programmatic access, underscoring the need to deposit network maps in community databases to ensure they can be readily accessed. Finally, few of these findings have yet been clinically translated, leaving ample opportunity for future translational studies. Periodic surveys of cancer pathway maps, such as the one reported here, are critical to assess progress in the field and identify underserved areas of methodology and cancer biology.
During a decade of proof-of-principle analysis in model organisms, protein networks have been used to further the study of molecular evolution, to gain insight into the robustness of cells to ...perturbation, and for assignment of new protein functions. Following these analyses, and with the recent rise of protein interaction measurements in mammals, protein networks are increasingly serving as tools to unravel the molecular basis of disease. We review promising applications of protein networks to disease in four major areas: identifying new disease genes; the study of their network properties; identifying disease-related subnetworks; and network-based disease classification. Applications in infectious disease, personalized medicine, and pharmacology are also forthcoming as the available protein network information improves in quality and coverage.
Biological networks are powerful resources for the discovery of genes and genetic modules that drive disease. Fundamental to network analysis is the concept that genes underlying the same phenotype ...tend to interact; this principle can be used to combine and to amplify signals from individual genes. Recently, numerous bioinformatic techniques have been proposed for genetic analysis using networks, based on random walks, information diffusion and electrical resistance. These approaches have been applied successfully to identify disease genes, genetic modules and drug targets. In fact, all these approaches are variations of a unifying mathematical machinery - network propagation - suggesting that it is a powerful data transformation method of broad utility in genetic research.
Age-associated changes to the mammalian DNA methylome are well documented and thought to promote diseases of aging, such as cancer. Recent studies have identified collections of individual ...methylation sites whose aggregate methylation status measures chronological age, referred to as the DNA methylation clock. DNA methylation may also have value as a biomarker of healthy versus unhealthy aging and disease risk; in other words, a biological clock. Here we consider the relationship between the chronological and biological clocks, their underlying mechanisms, potential consequences, and their utility as biomarkers and as targets for intervention to promote healthy aging and longevity.
Analysis of age-associated methylation changes at CpG sites has allowed the construction of DNA methylation clocks. Field et al. discuss the potential causes and consequences of these clocks. Comparisons between biological and chronological methylation clocks suggest routes toward their effective application in the treatment and prevention of age-associated disease.
Many forms of cancer have multiple subtypes with different causes and clinical outcomes. Somatic tumor genome sequences provide a rich new source of data for uncovering these subtypes but have proven ...difficult to compare, as two tumors rarely share the same mutations. Here we introduce network-based stratification (NBS), a method to integrate somatic tumor genomes with gene networks. This approach allows for stratification of cancer into informative subtypes by clustering together patients with mutations in similar network regions. We demonstrate NBS in ovarian, uterine and lung cancer cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas. For each tissue, NBS identifies subtypes that are predictive of clinical outcomes such as patient survival, response to therapy or tumor histology. We identify network regions characteristic of each subtype and show how mutation-derived subtypes can be used to train an mRNA expression signature, which provides similar information in the absence of DNA sequence.
The great hairball gambit Flint, Jonathan; Ideker, Trey
PLoS genetics,
11/2019, Letnik:
15, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
...protein interaction networks are central to cell and tissue biology, otherwise there’d be no organization of proteins into large multimeric complexes, or co-localization in specific subcellular ...compartments. ...metabolic networks provide a means by which changes in the levels or activities of enzymes or metabolites can propagate to affect the levels or activities of many others. ...these many layers of networks attest to the fact that most genes don’t act in a vacuum, and thus to understand disease we need to know how individual effects alter larger biological processes modeled by networks. ...even if we had accurate sets of genes from GWAS, we are still far from having complete interaction maps.
A central goal of systems biology is to elucidate the structural and functional architecture of the cell. To this end, large and complex networks of molecular interactions are being rapidly generated ...for humans and model organisms. A recent focus of bioinformatics research has been to integrate these networks with each other and with diverse molecular profiles to identify sets of molecules and interactions that participate in a common biological function - that is, 'modules'. Here, we classify such integrative approaches into four broad categories, describe their bioinformatic principles and review their applications.
About the Authors: Trey Ideker * E-mail: tideker@ucsd.edu (TI); NussinoR@mail.nih.gov (RN) Affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States ...of America Ruth Nussinov * E-mail: tideker@ucsd.edu (TI); NussinoR@mail.nih.gov (RN) Affiliations Cancer and Inflammation Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America, Sackler Institute of Molecular Medicine, Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, IsraelCitation: Ideker T, Nussinov R (2017) Network approaches and applications in biology. ...general methodology is still sorely needed to accurately detect the physical structures in the cell that are embedded in a set of molecular interaction data. ...this issue includes a review from Guven-Maiorov et al.
Cytoscape is a popular bioinformatics package for biological network visualization and data integration. Version 2.8 introduces two powerful new features--Custom Node Graphics and Attribute ...Equations--which can be used jointly to greatly enhance Cytoscape's data integration and visualization capabilities. Custom Node Graphics allow an image to be projected onto a node, including images generated dynamically or at remote locations. Attribute Equations provide Cytoscape with spreadsheet-like functionality in which the value of an attribute is computed dynamically as a function of other attributes and network properties.
Cytoscape is a desktop Java application released under the Library Gnu Public License (LGPL). Binary install bundles and source code for Cytoscape 2.8 are available for download from http://cytoscape.org.
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