NFFinder: an online bioinformatics tool for searching similar transcriptomics experiments in the context of drug repositioning.
Drug repositioning, using known drugs for treating conditions different from those the drug was originally designed to treat, is an important drug discovery tool that allows for a faster and cheaper development process by using drugs that are already approved or in an advanced trial stage for another purpose. This is especially relevant for orphan diseases because they affect too few people to make drug research de novo economically viable. In this paper we present NFFinder, a bioinformatics tool for identifying potential useful drugs in the context of orphan diseases. NFFinder uses transcriptomic data to find relationships between drugs, diseases and a phenotype of interest, as well as identifying experts having published on that domain. The application shows in a dashboard a series of graphics and tables designed to help researchers formulate repositioning hypotheses and identify potential biological relationships between drugs and diseases. NFFinder is freely available at http://nffinder.cnb.csic.es.
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Javier
J
Setoain
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Mònica
M
Franch
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Marta
M
Martínez
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Daniel
D
Tabas-Madrid
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Carlos O S
CO
Sorzano
The Children Tumor Foundation, New York, USA.
Annette
A
Bakker
Perkin Elmer España, S.L., Madrid, Spain.
Eduardo
E
Gonzalez-Couto
Perkin Elmer España, S.L., Madrid, Spain.
Juan
J
Elvira
National Center for Biotechnology-CSIC, Madrid, Spain Perkin Elmer España, S.L., Madrid, Spain pascual@cnb.csic.es.
Alberto
A
Pascual-Montano
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D058492:Drug Repositioning; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D018317:Nerve Sheath Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012984:Software; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000187:drug effects*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents