Bayesian estimation of muscle mechanisms and therapeutic targets using variational autoencoders

Cardiomyopathies, often caused by mutations in genes encoding muscle proteins, are traditionally treated by phenotyping hearts and addressing symptoms post irreversible damage. With advancements in genotyping, early diagnosis is now possible, potentially introducing earlier treatment. However, the intricate structure of muscle and its myriad proteins make treatment predictions challenging. Here, we approach the problem of estimating therapeutic targets for a mutation in mouse muscle using a spatially explicit half sarcomere muscle model. We selected nine rate parameters in our model linked to both small molecules and cardiomyopathy-causing mutations. We then randomly varied these rate parameters and simulated an isometric twitch for each combination to generate a large training data set. We used this data set to train a conditional variational autoencoder, a technique used in Bayesian parameter estimation. Given simulated or experimental isometric twitches, this machine learning model is able to then predict the set of rate parameters that are most likely to yield that result. We then predict the set of rate parameters associated with twitches from control mice with the cardiac troponin C (cTnC) I61Q variant and control twitches treated with the myosin activator Danicamtiv, as well as model parameters that recover the abnormal I61Q cTnC twitches.