Identification of the modes of action of bioactive compounds is an important issue in chemical systems biology. In this chapter we review a recently developed data-driven approach using large-scale chemically induced transcriptome data acquired from the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures to elucidate the modes of action of bioactive compounds. First, we present a method for pathway enrichment analyses of regulated genes to reveal biological pathways activated by compounds. Next, we present a method using the pre-knowledge on chemical-protein interactome for predicting potential target proteins, including primary targets and off-targets, with transcriptional similarity. Finally, we present a method based on the target proteins for predicting new therapeutic indications for a variety of diseases. These approaches are expected to be useful for mode-of-action analysis, drug discovery, and drug repositioning.
Keywords: Bioactive compound; Drug repositioning; Drug target; Modes of action; Pathway activity; Transcriptome.