Purpose: High-throughput “-omic” technologies have enabled the detailed analysis of metabolic networks in several cancers, but NETs have not been explored to date. We aim to assess the metabolomic profile of NET patients to understand metabolic deregulation in these tumors and identify novel biomarkers with clinical potential. Methods: Plasma samples from 77 NETs and 68 controls were profiled by GC−MS, CE−MS and LC−MS untargeted metabolomics. OPLS-DA was performed to evaluate metabolomic differences. Related pathways were explored using Metaboanalyst 4.0. Finally, ROC and OPLS-DA analyses were performed to select metabolites with biomarker potential. Results: We identified 155 differential compounds between NETs and controls. We have detected an increase of bile acids, sugars, oxidized lipids and oxidized products from arachidonic acid and a decrease of carnitine levels in NETs. MPA/MSEA identified 32 enriched metabolic pathways in NETs related with the TCA cycle and amino acid metabolism. Finally, OPLS-DA and ROC analysis revealed 48 metabolites with diagnostic potential. Conclusions: This study provides, for the first time, a comprehensive metabolic profile of NET patients and identifies a distinctive metabolic signature in plasma of potential clinical use. A reduced set of metabolites of high diagnostic accuracy has been identified. Additionally, new enriched metabolic pathways annotated may open innovative avenues of clinical research.
Motivation: Drug immunomodulation modifies the response of the immune system and can be therapeutically exploited in pathologies such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Results: DREIMT is a new hypothesis-generation web tool, which performs drug prioritization analysis for immunomodulation. DREIMT provides significant immunomodulatory drugs targeting up to 70 immune cells subtypes through a curated database that integrates 4960 drug profiles and ∼2600 immune gene expression signatures. The tool also suggests potential immunomodulatory drugs targeting user-supplied gene expression signatures. Final output includes drug–signature association scores, FDRs and downloadable plots and results tables. Availabilityand implementation: http://www.dreimt.org. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
3 May 2020 in Expert Review of Precision Medicine and Drug Development
(2020). How can bioinformatics contribute to the routine application of personalized precision medicine?. Expert Review of Precision Medicine and Drug Development. Ahead of Print.
Motivation Drug immunomodulation modifies the response of the immune system and can be therapeutically exploited in pathologies such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Results DREIMT is a new hypothesis-generation web tool which performs drug prioritization analysis for immunomodulation. DREIMT provides significant immunomodulatory drugs targeting up to 70 immune cells subtypes through a curated database that integrates 4,960 drug profiles and ~2,6K immune gene expression signatures. The tool also suggests potential immunomodulatory drugs targeting user-supplied gene expression signatures. Final output includes drug-signature association scores, FDRs and downloadable plots and results tables. Availability http://www.dreimt.org Contact falshahrour{at}cnio.es ; ggomez{at}cnio.es