omniBiomarker: A Web-Based Application for Knowledge-Driven Biomarker Identification

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2013 Dec;60(12):3364-7. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2012.2212438. Epub 2012 Aug 8.

Abstract

We have developed omniBiomarker, a web-based application that uses knowledge from the NCI Cancer Gene Index to guide the selection of biologically relevant algorithms for identifying biomarkers. Biomarker identification from high-throughput genomic expression data is difficult because of data properties (i.e., small-sample size compared to large-feature size) as well as the large number of available feature selection algorithms. Thus, it is unclear which algorithm should be used for a particular dataset. These factors lead to instability in biomarker identification and affect the reproducibility of results. We introduce a method for computing the biological relevance of feature selection algorithms using an externally validated knowledge base of manually curated cancer biomarkers. Results suggest that knowledge-driven biomarker identification can improve microarray-based clinical prediction performance. omniBiomarker can be accessed at http://omnibiomarker.bme.gatech.edu/.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / classification*
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods
  • Humans
  • Internet*
  • Knowledge Bases*
  • Machine Learning
  • Software*

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor