title: Connecting the dots: applications of network medicine in pharmacology and disease.
abstract: In 2011, >2.5 million people died from only 15 causes in the United States. Ten of these involved complex or infectious diseases for which there is insufficient knowledge or treatment, such as heart disease, influenza, and Alzheimer's disease.(1) Complex diseases have been difficult to understand due to their multifarious genetic and molecular fingerprints, while certain infectious agents have evolved to elude treatment and prophylaxis. Network medicine provides a macroscopic approach to understanding and treating such illnesses. It integrates experimental data on gene, protein, and metabolic interactions with clinical knowledge of disease and pharmacology in order to extend the understanding of diseases and their treatments. The resulting "big picture" allows for the development of computational and mathematical methods to identify novel disease pathways and predict patient drug response, among others. In this review, we discuss recent advances in network medicine.
authors.affiliation: 1] Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA [2] Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA [3] Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA [4] Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacunski
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Tatonetti
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004194:Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000379:methods*; D010641:Phenotype; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D049490:Systems Biology