META-ANALYSIS OF CONTINUOUS PHENOTYPES IDENTIFIES A GENE SIGNATURE THAT CORRELATES WITH COPD DISEASE STATUS

Pac Symp Biocomput. 2017:22:266-275. doi: 10.1142/9789813207813_0026.

Abstract

The utility of multi-cohort two-class meta-analysis to identify robust differentially expressed gene signatures has been well established. However, many biomedical applications, such as gene signatures of disease progression, require one-class analysis. Here we describe an R package, MetaCorrelator, that can identify a reproducible transcriptional signature that is correlated with a continuous disease phenotype across multiple datasets. We successfully applied this framework to extract a pattern of gene expression that can predict lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in both peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and tissue. Our results point to a disregulation in the oxidation state of the lungs of patients with COPD, as well as underscore the classically recognized inammatory state that underlies this disease.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

  • Cohort Studies
  • Computational Biology
  • Databases, Genetic / statistics & numerical data
  • Forced Expiratory Volume
  • Humans
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / metabolism
  • Lung / physiopathology
  • Phenotype
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / genetics*
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / physiopathology
  • Transcriptome