The advances in biological technologies make it possible to generate data for multiple conditions simultaneously. Discovering the condition-specific modules in multiple networks has great merit in understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of cells. The available algorithms transform the multiple networks into a single objective optimization problem, which is criticized for its low accuracy. To address this issue, a multi-objective genetic algorithm for condition-specific modules in multiple networks (MOGA-CSM) is developed to discover the condition-specific modules. By using the artificial networks, we demonstrate that the MOGA-CSM outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy. Furthermore, MOGA-CSM discovers stage-specific modules in breast cancer networks based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, and these modules serve as biomarkers to predict stages of breast cancer. The proposed model and algorithm provide an effective way to analyze multiple networks.
Keywords: multi-objective optimization; multiple networks; network analysis; specific modules.