Abstract
Background: Recent advances in systems medicine allow detailed reconstruction of molecular interactions in particular diseases e.g. Parkinson's disease map (Fujita et al., Molecular Neurobiology, 2013) and Atlas of Cancer Signalling Networks (Kuperstein et al., Oncogenesis, 2015).
Objectives: 1. Integration of current knowledge on asthma into a network of molecular interactions. 2. Explore applications for functional analysis and interpretation of multi-omics data.
Methods: The standard Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN, www.sbgn.org) is used for literature-based network reconstruction, with ensuing review by domain experts to ensure high-quality knowledge representation.
Results: AsthmaMap is a collection of interconnected asthma-relevant pathways including 22 cell types, > 50 receptors and their signaling pathways and > 1,000 proteins and metabolites associated with asthma pathogenesis. We demonstrate its application for adequate description of disease mechanisms and for result interpretation of disease phenotyping based on clinical and multi-omics data from UBIOPRED severe asthma cohorts, as well as its potential application as a knowledge resource and teaching aid.
Conclusion: AsthmaMap is the first knowledge base that collects and integrates known molecular processes involved in asthma. While being complementary to other pathway analysis solutions, AsthmaMap enables multiple 'omics data visualisation and their interpretation in the asthma-specific context, thus supporting the process of systems medicine.
Acknowledgements: Funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (U-BIOPRED n°115010, eTRIKS n°115446).
- Copyright ©the authors 2016
