COMSUC: A web server for the identification of consensus molecular subtypes of cancer based on multiple methods and multi-omics data

PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 Mar 18;17(3):e1008769. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008769. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Extensive amounts of multi-omics data and multiple cancer subtyping methods have been developed rapidly, and generate discrepant clustering results, which poses challenges for cancer molecular subtype research. Thus, the development of methods for the identification of cancer consensus molecular subtypes is essential. The lack of intuitive and easy-to-use analytical tools has posed a barrier. Here, we report on the development of the COnsensus Molecular SUbtype of Cancer (COMSUC) web server. With COMSUC, users can explore consensus molecular subtypes of more than 30 cancers based on eight clustering methods, five types of omics data from public reference datasets or users' private data, and three consensus clustering methods. The web server provides interactive and modifiable visualization, and publishable output of analysis results. Researchers can also exchange consensus subtype results with collaborators via project IDs. COMSUC is now publicly and freely available with no login requirement at http://comsuc.bioinforai.tech/ (IP address: http://59.110.25.27/). For a video summary of this web server, see S1 Video and S1 File.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Consensus
  • Humans
  • Internet*
  • Neoplasms* / classification
  • Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Software*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China [2016YFC0901600]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.