UVREK: Development and Analysis of an Expression Profile Knowledgebase of Biomolecules Induced by Ultraviolet...

Humans encounter diverse environmental factors which can have impact on their health. One such environmental factor is ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is part of the physical component of the exposome. UV radiation is the leading cause of skin cancer and is a significant global health concern. A large body of published research has been conducted to uncover the mechanisms underlying the adverse outcomes of UV radiation exposure on living beings. These studies involve identifying the biomolecules induced upon UV radiation exposure. A few previous efforts have attempted to compile this information in the form of a database, but such earlier efforts have certain limitations. To fill this gap, we present a structured database named UVREK (UltraViolet Radiation Expression Knowledgebase), containing manually curated data on biomolecules induced by UV radiation exposure from the published literature. UVREK has compiled information on 985 genes, 470 proteins, 54 metabolites, and 77 miRNAs along with their metadata. Thereafter, an enrichment analysis performed on the human gene set of the UVREK database showed the importance of transcription-related processes in UV-related response and enrichment of pathways involved in cancer and aging. While significantly contributing toward characterizing the physical component of the exposome, we expect that the compiled data in UVREK will serve as a valuable resource for the development of better UV protection mechanisms such as UV sensors and sunscreens. Noteworthily, UVREK is the only resource to date compiling varied types of biomolecular responses to UV radiation with the corresponding metadata. UVREK is openly accessible at https://cb.imsc.res.in/uvrek/.