title: Integration of cancer gene co-expression network and metabolic network to uncover potential cancer drug targets.
abstract: Cell metabolism is critical for cancer cell transformation and progression. In this study, we have developed a novel method, named Met-express, that integrates a cancer gene co-expression network with the metabolic network to predict key enzyme-coding genes and metabolites in cancer cell metabolism. Met-express successfully identified a group of key enzyme-coding genes and metabolites in lung, leukemia, and breast cancers. Literature reviews suggest that approximately 33-53% of the predicted genes are either known or suggested anti-cancer drug targets, while 22% of the predicted metabolites are known or high-potential drug compounds in therapeutic use. Furthermore, experimental validations prove that 90% of the selected genes and 70% of metabolites demonstrate the significant anti-cancer phenotypes in cancer cells, implying that they may play important roles in cancer metabolism. Therefore, Met-express is a powerful tool for uncovering novel therapeutic biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jingqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Jianzhong Jeff
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D055808:Drug Discovery; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins