Computational systems biology in cancer brain metastasis

Brain metastases occur in 20-40% of patients with advanced malignancies. A better understanding of the mechanism of this disease will help us to identify novel therapeutic strategies. In this review, we will discuss the systems biology approaches used in this area, including bioinformatics and mathematical modeling. Bioinformatics has been used for identifying the molecular mechanisms driving brain metastasis and mathematical modeling methods for analyzing dynamics of a system and predicting optimal therapeutic strategies. We will illustrate the strategies, procedures, and computational techniques used for studying systems biology in cancer brain metastases. We will give examples on how to use a systems biology approach to analyze a complex disease. Some of the approaches used to identify relevant networks, pathways, and possibly biomarkers in metastasis will be reviewed into details. Finally, certain challenges and possible future directions in this area will also be discussed.