title: Computational systems biology in cancer brain metastasis.
abstract: Brain metastases occur in 20-40% of patients with advanced malignancies. A better understanding of the mechanism of this disease will help us to identify novel therapeutic strategies. In this review, we will discuss the systems biology approaches used in this area, including bioinformatics and mathematical modeling. Bioinformatics has been used for identifying the molecular mechanisms driving brain metastasis and mathematical modeling methods for analyzing dynamics of a system and predicting optimal therapeutic strategies. We will illustrate the strategies, procedures, and computational techniques used for studying systems biology in cancer brain metastases. We will give examples on how to use a systems biology approach to analyze a complex disease. Some of the approaches used to identify relevant networks, pathways, and possibly biomarkers in metastasis will be reviewed into details. Finally, certain challenges and possible future directions in this area will also be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and 2Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Huiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and 2Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and 2Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Weiling
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and 2Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Guangxu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: 2500 N. State, Jackson MS 39216, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Cancer Institute.
authors.forename: Sambad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, 751 N Rutledge St. PO Box 19626, Springfield, IL 627794-9626, USA.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston Salem, NC, 27157.
authors.forename: Kounosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and 2Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA, xizhou@wakehealth.edu.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers