Genomic regression analysis of coordinated expression

Nat Commun. 2017 Dec 19;8(1):2187. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02181-0.

Abstract

Co-expression analysis is widely used to predict gene function and to identify functionally related gene sets. However, co-expression analysis using human cancer transcriptomic data is confounded by somatic copy number alterations (SCNA), which produce co-expression signatures based on physical proximity rather than biological function. To better understand gene-gene co-expression based on biological regulation but not SCNA, we describe a method termed "Genomic Regression Analysis of Coordinated Expression" (GRACE) to adjust for the effect of SCNA in co-expression analysis. The results from analyses of TCGA, CCLE, and NCI60 data sets show that GRACE can improve our understanding of how a transcriptional network is re-wired in cancer. A user-friendly web database populated with data sets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is provided to allow customized query.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA Copy Number Variations
  • Databases, Nucleic Acid*
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Gene Regulatory Networks / genetics*
  • Genomics / methods*
  • Humans
  • Internet
  • Linear Models
  • Models, Biological
  • Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Transcriptome / genetics