Exploring candidate genes for human brain diseases from a brain-specific gene network

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2006 Nov 3;349(4):1308-14. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.08.168. Epub 2006 Sep 7.

Abstract

It is believed that large numbers of genes are involved in common human brain diseases. Here, we propose a novel computational strategy for simultaneously identifying multiple candidate genes for genetic human brain diseases from a brain-specific gene network-level perspective. By integrating diverse genomic and proteomic datasets based on Bayesian statistical model, we built a large-scale human brain-specific gene network. Based on this network and minor prior knowledge of a specific brain disease, we can effectively identify multiple candidate genes for this disease. When four known Alzheimer's disease genes were used as the prior knowledge, among the top 46 high-scoring genes that we have found, 37 were previously reported to be associated with Alzheimer's disease. And the higher score a gene has, the more likely this gene is a disease-related one. The results suggest that the proposed method is effective, convenient, and applicable in the future genetic studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Databases, Protein
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods*
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological*
  • N-Ethylmaleimide-Sensitive Proteins / metabolism*
  • Proteome / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction*

Substances

  • Proteome
  • N-Ethylmaleimide-Sensitive Proteins