A self-consistent probabilistic formulation for inference of interactions

Sci Rep. 2020 Dec 8;10(1):21435. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-78496-8.

Abstract

Large molecular interaction networks are nowadays assembled in biomedical researches along with important technological advances. Diverse interaction measures, for which input solely consisting of the incidence of causal-factors, with the corresponding outcome of an inquired effect, are formulated without an obvious mathematical unity. Consequently, conceptual and practical ambivalences arise. We identify here a probabilistic requirement consistent with that input, and find, by the rules of probability theory, that it leads to a model multiplicative in the complement of the effect. Important practical properties are revealed along these theoretical derivations, that has not been noticed before.