Background: Signal transduction is the major mechanism through which cells transmit external stimuli to evoke intracellular biochemical responses. Understanding relationship between external stimuli and corresponding cellular responses, as well as the subsequent effects on downstream genes, is a major challenge in systems biology. Thus, a systematic approach to integrate experimental data and qualitative knowledge to identify the physiological consequences of environmental stimuli is needed.
Results: In present study, we employed a genetic algorithm-based Boolean model to represent NF-κB signaling pathway. We were able to capture feedback and crosstalk characteristics to enhance our understanding on the acute and chronic inflammatory response. Key network components affecting the response dynamics were identified.
Conclusions: We designed an effective algorithm to elucidate the process of immune response using comprehensive knowledge about network structure and limited experimental data on dynamic responses. This approach can potentially be implemented for large-scale analysis on cellular processes and organism behaviors.