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Omics data allow studying the molecular profile of living beings at different levels. This technological progress and the lower cost have generalized "multi-omics" data collection, of different types, on the same samples. Integrative analysis of these data provide a synthesis of complex biological processes by unwinding the existing relations between the different layers of data.

In an article published in the journal Biostatistics, biostaticians from The Animal Genetics and integrative Biology Unit - GABI (INRAE/AgroParisTech/UPSaclay), in partnership with oncologists and human genomicists from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the Medical College of Wisconsin, provide a new integrative approach for the quantification and characterization of the deregulation of multi-omics regulation pathways, by calculating individualized pathway disruption scores. The approach used, PAthway Deviation scores using Multiple factor Analysis, implemented in padma, a free and open source software available on Bioconductor. Applied to multi-omics data in oncology, padma revealed regulation pathways associated with variable pronostics of lung and breast cancer.

These multi-omics integrative analyses thus provide a holistic vision of the biological processes, and the identification of biomarkers or key genes for regulatoy pathways of interest. This project illustrates the importance of extending classical multivariate approaches to new scientific questions, as well as the reciprocal benefit that the human and animal genomics scientific communities derive from a collaboration on common methodological developments.

Contact scientifique :

• Andrea Rau