title: Information exploration system for sickle cell disease and repurposing of hydroxyfasudil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a fatal monogenic disorder with no effective cure and thus high rates of morbidity and sequelae. Efforts toward discovery of disease modifying drugs and curative strategies can be augmented by leveraging the plethora of information contained in available biomedical literature. To facilitate research in this direction we have developed a resource, Dragon Exploration System for Sickle Cell Disease (DESSCD) (http://cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/desscd/) that aims to promote the easy exploration of SCD-related data.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Dragon Exploration System (DES), developed based on text mining and complemented by data mining, processed 419,612 MEDLINE abstracts retrieved from a PubMed query using SCD-related keywords. The processed SCD-related data has been made available via the DESSCD web query interface that enables: a/information retrieval using specified concepts, keywords and phrases, and b/the generation of inferred association networks and hypotheses. The usefulness of the system is demonstrated by: a/reproducing a known scientific fact, the "Sickle_Cell_Anemia-Hydroxyurea" association, and b/generating novel and plausible "Sickle_Cell_Anemia-Hydroxyfasudil" hypothesis. A PCT patent (PCT/US12/55042) has been filed for the latter drug repurposing for SCD treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We developed the DESSCD resource dedicated to exploration of text-mined and data-mined information about SCD. No similar SCD-related resource exists. Thus, we anticipate that DESSCD will serve as a valuable tool for physicians and researchers interested in SCD.
authors.affiliation: Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division-CEMSE, Computational Bioscience Research Center-CBRC, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology-KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Magbubah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Essack
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Radovanovic
authors.forename: Vladimir B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Bajic
mesh_terms: D019307:1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D000986:Antisickling Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D006918:Hydroxyurea / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D039781:PubMed; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D000986:Antisickling Agents; C431085:hydroxyfasudil; D019307:1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine; D006918:Hydroxyurea