Building the drug-GO function network to screen significant candidate drugs for myasthenia gravis

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 4;14(4):e0214857. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214857. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease. In recent years, considerable evidence has indicated that Gene Ontology (GO) functions, especially GO-biological processes, have important effects on the mechanisms and treatments of different diseases. However, the roles of GO functions in the pathogenesis and treatment of MG have not been well studied. This study aimed to uncover the potential important roles of risk-related GO functions and to screen significant candidate drugs related to GO functions for MG. Based on MG risk genes, 238 risk GO functions and 42 drugs were identified. Through constructing a GO function network, we discovered that positive regulation of NF-kappaB transcription factor activity (GO:0051092) may be one of the most important GO functions in the mechanism of MG. Furthermore, we built a drug-GO function network to help evaluate the latent relationship between drugs and GO functions. According to the drug-GO function network, 5 candidate drugs showing promise for treating MG were identified. Indeed, 2 out of 5 candidate drugs have been investigated to treat MG. Through functional enrichment analysis, we found that the mechanisms between 5 candidate drugs and associated GO functions may involve two vital pathways, specifically hsa05332 (graft-versus-host disease) and hsa04940 (type I diabetes mellitus). More interestingly, most of the processes in these two pathways were consistent. Our study will not only reveal a new perspective on the mechanisms and novel treatment strategies of MG, but also will provide strong support for research on GO functions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adalimumab / pharmacology
  • Carnosine / analogs & derivatives
  • Carnosine / pharmacology
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Databases, Pharmaceutical
  • Drug Repositioning
  • Etanercept / pharmacology
  • Gene Ontology*
  • Gene Regulatory Networks*
  • Genetic Association Studies
  • Glucosamine / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / pharmacology
  • Myasthenia Gravis / drug therapy*
  • Myasthenia Gravis / genetics*
  • Myasthenia Gravis / immunology
  • Organometallic Compounds / pharmacology
  • Pharmacogenomic Testing
  • Thalidomide / analogs & derivatives
  • Thalidomide / pharmacology
  • Zinc Compounds / pharmacology

Substances

  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Zinc Compounds
  • polaprezinc
  • Thalidomide
  • Carnosine
  • Adalimumab
  • Glucosamine
  • Etanercept
  • apremilast

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 81820108014 to LW, 81571166 to LW, 81771361 to LW, 81701190 to JW, 81701155 to XL and 81801190 to YC), The applied technique research and development project of Harbin (2016RAXYJ067 to LW), Health and Family Planning Commission of Heilongjiang Province (2016-052 to JW, 2016-072 to HZ and 2017-079 to XL), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universitie (2017LCZX57 to JW, 2017LCZX65 to HZ and 2017LCZX48 to XL), The Postdoctoral Foundation of Heilongjiang Province(LBH-Z17138 to HZ).