DRIVE: a comprehensive resource deciphering drug-induced transcriptomic and splicing response in cancer cell

Tao Wu1, Hong-Feng Tang2, Wei-Liang Wang3

  • 1Department of Dermatology, Yangjiang People's Hospital affiliated to Guangdong Medical University, Yangjiang, Guangdong, China; The Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University (The First People's Hospital of Shunde), Foshan, Guangdong, China.

Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.)
|July 10, 2026
PubMed

Insights

The DRIVE database offers a comprehensive resource on drug-induced cancer cell changes, revealing context-dependent responses and identifying potential immunomodulatory drugs and splicing modulators for combination immunotherapy.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Computational Biology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Pharmacotherapy causes significant molecular changes in cancer, including altered gene expression and alternative splicing.
  • Existing resources lack comprehensive data on drug-induced transcriptomic and splicing alterations, hindering neoantigen landscape analysis.
  • Aberrant splicing can create neoantigens, but integrating drug effects with splicing and neoantigen data is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To create the DRIVE database, a resource detailing drug-induced transcriptomic and splicing responses in cancer.
  • To systematically analyze drug perturbations, splicing dynamics, and neoantigen generation.
  • To provide a platform for understanding drug mechanisms and discovering novel therapeutic strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Processed thousands of public transcriptomic datasets from drug-treated and control cancer cell lines.
  • Utilized large language models for metadata curation and a standardized processing pipeline.
  • Quantified differential gene expression, alternative splicing events, and predicted HLA-binding peptides.

Main Results:

  • The DRIVE database contains 3,911 samples across 278 drugs and 272 cell lines.
  • Drug-induced transcriptomic reprogramming is context-dependent and correlates with chemical structure.
  • Identified Osimertinib as a potential immunomodulator and KB-0742 as a splicing modulator.
  • Predicted numerous drugs as candidates for combination immunotherapy based on neoantigen generation.

Conclusions:

  • DRIVE enhances understanding of pharmacotherapy-induced molecular reprogramming in cancer.
  • The database serves as a platform for deciphering drug mechanisms and drug repurposing.
  • Identified specific drugs with potential for immunomodulation and combination immunotherapy.

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