Rossi, R. L. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2022

Combinatorial selection of biomarkers to optimize gene signatures in diagnostics and single cell applications

Here we present the combiroc R package, for signatures refinement in high throughput omics. Based on a ROC-driven marker selection, it can be used to find powerful smaller sub-signatures from scRNAseq experiments and to annotate cells using fewer markers. Trained on PBMC dataset, combiroc found NK marker combinations with high cell-discriminating power, in agreement with human protein atlas and that were validated both computationally and experimentally on independent datasets.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2021

Novel antiviral interferon sensitive genes unveiled by correlation-driven gene selection and integrated systems biology approaches.

Interferons (IFNs) are key cytokines involved in alerting the immune system to viral infection. After IFN stimulation, cellular transcriptional profile critically changes, leading to the expression of several IFN stimulated genes (ISGs) that exert a wide variety of antiviral activities. Despite many ISGs have been already identified, a comprehensive network of coding and non-coding genes with a central role in IFN-response still needs to be elucidated. We performed a global RNA-Seq transcriptome profile of the HCV permissive human hepatoma cell line Huh7.5 and its parental cell line Huh7, upon IFN treatment, to define a network of genes whose coordinated modulation plays a central role in IFN-response. Our study adds molecular actors, coding and non-coding genes, to the complex molecular network underlying IFN-response and shows how systems biology approaches, such as correlation networks, networks topology and gene ontology analyses can be leveraged to this aim.

systems biology↗