Computational Reconstruction of NFκB Pathway Interaction Mechanisms during Prostate Cancer

PLoS Comput Biol. 2016 Apr 14;12(4):e1004820. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004820. eCollection 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Molecular research in cancer is one of the largest areas of bioinformatic investigation, but it remains a challenge to understand biomolecular mechanisms in cancer-related pathways from high-throughput genomic data. This includes the Nuclear-factor-kappa-B (NFκB) pathway, which is central to the inflammatory response and cell proliferation in prostate cancer development and progression. Despite close scrutiny and a deep understanding of many of its members' biomolecular activities, the current list of pathway members and a systems-level understanding of their interactions remains incomplete. Here, we provide the first steps toward computational reconstruction of interaction mechanisms of the NFκB pathway in prostate cancer. We identified novel roles for ATF3, CXCL2, DUSP5, JUNB, NEDD9, SELE, TRIB1, and ZFP36 in this pathway, in addition to new mechanistic interactions between these genes and 10 known NFκB pathway members. A newly predicted interaction between NEDD9 and ZFP36 in particular was validated by co-immunoprecipitation, as was NEDD9's potential biological role in prostate cancer cell growth regulation. We combined 651 gene expression datasets with 1.4M gene product interactions to predict the inclusion of 40 additional genes in the pathway. Molecular mechanisms of interaction among pathway members were inferred using recent advances in Bayesian data integration to simultaneously provide information specific to biological contexts and individual biomolecular activities, resulting in a total of 112 interactions in the fully reconstructed NFκB pathway: 13 (11%) previously known, 29 (26%) supported by existing literature, and 70 (63%) novel. This method is generalizable to other tissue types, cancers, and organisms, and this new information about the NFκB pathway will allow us to further understand prostate cancer and to develop more effective prevention and treatment strategies.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Computational Biology
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Gene Ontology
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Humans
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • Male
  • Models, Biological
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism*
  • Phosphoproteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Phosphoproteins / genetics
  • Phosphoproteins / metabolism
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / genetics
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Tristetraprolin / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Tristetraprolin / genetics
  • Tristetraprolin / metabolism

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • NEDD9 protein, human
  • NF-kappa B
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Tristetraprolin
  • ZFP36 protein, human