siGCD: a web server to explore survival interaction of genes, cells and drugs in human cancers

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Bioinformatics
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Identifying interactions between genes, cells, and drugs is crucial for advancing cancer precision medicine.
• Current methods face limitations due to data and experimental constraints in analyzing these complex interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present siGCD, a novel web-based tool for analyzing and visualizing survival interactions among genes, cells, and drugs in human cancers.
• To overcome existing data and experimental limitations by simulating gene expression, cell infiltration, and drug treatment.

Main Methods:

• siGCD utilizes cancer heterogeneity to simulate gene expression, cell infiltration, and drug treatment.
• The tool was used to identify survival interaction partners for EGFR (gene), T cells (cell), and sorafenib (drug).
• The synergistic effect of regorafenib and glyburide was validated, showing glyburide enhances regorafenib response.

Main Results:

• Predictions for EGFR, T cells, and sorafenib interactions were consistent with previous findings.
• Validation confirmed a synergistic effect between regorafenib and glyburide, with glyburide improving response to regorafenib.
• The study demonstrated siGCD's utility in identifying survival interaction partners.

Conclusions:

• siGCD is a valuable tool for cancer precision medicine, offering applications in gene regulatory network construction and immune cell regulatory gene identification.
• The tool aids in screening biomarkers for drug response, particularly for multi-target drugs.
• siGCD facilitates the design of combination therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.