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Lee G, Lee SM, Lee S, Jeong CW, Song H, Lee SY, Yun H, Koh Y, Kim HU. Prediction of metabolites associated with somatic mutations in cancers by using genome-scale metabolic models and mutation data. Genome Biol 2024; 25:66. [PMID: 38468344 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03208-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Oncometabolites, often generated as a result of a gene mutation, show pro-oncogenic function when abnormally accumulated in cancer cells. Identification of such mutation-associated metabolites will facilitate developing treatment strategies for cancers, but is challenging due to the large number of metabolites in a cell and the presence of multiple genes associated with cancer development. RESULTS Here we report the development of a computational workflow that predicts metabolite-gene-pathway sets. Metabolite-gene-pathway sets present metabolites and metabolic pathways significantly associated with specific somatic mutations in cancers. The computational workflow uses both cancer patient-specific genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) and mutation data to generate metabolite-gene-pathway sets. A GEM is a computational model that predicts reaction fluxes at a genome scale and can be constructed in a cell-specific manner by using omics data. The computational workflow is first validated by comparing the resulting metabolite-gene pairs with multi-omics data (i.e., mutation data, RNA-seq data, and metabolome data) from acute myeloid leukemia and renal cell carcinoma samples collected in this study. The computational workflow is further validated by evaluating the metabolite-gene-pathway sets predicted for 18 cancer types, by using RNA-seq data publicly available, in comparison with the reported studies. Therapeutic potential of the resulting metabolite-gene-pathway sets is also discussed. CONCLUSIONS Validation of the metabolite-gene-pathway set-predicting computational workflow indicates that a decent number of metabolites and metabolic pathways appear to be significantly associated with specific somatic mutations. The computational workflow and the resulting metabolite-gene-pathway sets will help identify novel oncometabolites and also suggest cancer treatment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- GaRyoung Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Mi Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sungyoung Lee
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea
| | - Chang Wook Jeong
- Department of Urology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyojin Song
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Yup Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Engineering Biology, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, and BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Hongseok Yun
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea.
| | - Youngil Koh
- Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea.
| | - Hyun Uk Kim
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
- Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
- Graduate School of Engineering Biology, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, and BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
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Chen K, Wang F. Cell-specific genome-scale metabolic modeling of SARS-CoV-2-infected lung to identify antiviral enzymes. FEBS Open Bio 2023; 13:2172-2186. [PMID: 37734920 PMCID: PMC10699103 DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.13710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Computational systems biology plays a key role in the discovery of suitable antiviral targets. We designed a cell-specific, constraint-based modeling technique for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected lungs. We used the gene sequence of the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2 to build a viral biomass reaction (VBR). We also used the mass proportion of lipids between the viral biomass and its host cell to estimate the stoichiometric coefficients of viral lipids in the reaction. We then integrated the VBR, the gene expression of the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, and the generic human metabolic network Recon3D to reconstruct a cell-specific genome-scale metabolic model. An antiviral target discovery (AVTD) platform was introduced using this model to identify therapeutic drug targets for combating COVID-19. The AVTD platform not only identified antiviral genes for eliminating viral replication but also predicted side effects of treatments. Our computational results revealed that knocking out dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) might reduce the synthesis rate of cytidine-5'-triphosphate and uridine-5'-triphosphate, which terminate the viral building blocks of DNA and RNA for SARS-CoV-2 replication. Our results also indicated that DHODH is a promising antiviral target that causes minor side effects, which is consistent with the results of recent reports. Moreover, we discovered that the genes that participate in the de novo biosynthesis of glycerophospholipids and ceramides become unidentifiable if the VBR does not involve the stoichiometry of lipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke‐Lin Chen
- Department of Chemical EngineeringNational Chung Cheng UniversityChiayiTaiwan
| | - Feng‐Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical EngineeringNational Chung Cheng UniversityChiayiTaiwan
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Context-Specific Genome-Scale Metabolic Modelling and Its Application to the Analysis of COVID-19 Metabolic Signatures. Metabolites 2023; 13:metabo13010126. [PMID: 36677051 PMCID: PMC9866716 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13010126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) have found numerous applications in different domains, ranging from biotechnology to systems medicine. Herein, we overview the most popular algorithms for the automated reconstruction of context-specific GEMs using high-throughput experimental data. Moreover, we describe different datasets applied in the process, and protocols that can be used to further automate the model reconstruction and validation. Finally, we describe recent COVID-19 applications of context-specific GEMs, focusing on the analysis of metabolic implications, identification of biomarkers and potential drug targets.
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Cheng CT, Lai JM, Chang PMH, Hong YR, Huang CYF, Wang FS. Identifying essential genes in genome-scale metabolic models of consensus molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286032. [PMID: 37205704 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying essential targets in the genome-scale metabolic networks of cancer cells is a time-consuming process. The present study proposed a fuzzy hierarchical optimization framework for identifying essential genes, metabolites and reactions. On the basis of four objectives, the present study developed a framework for identifying essential targets that lead to cancer cell death and evaluating metabolic flux perturbations in normal cells that have been caused by cancer treatment. Through fuzzy set theory, a multiobjective optimization problem was converted into a trilevel maximizing decision-making (MDM) problem. We applied nested hybrid differential evolution to solve the trilevel MDM problem to identify essential targets in genome-scale metabolic models for five consensus molecular subtypes (CMSs) of colorectal cancer. We used various media to identify essential targets for each CMS and discovered that most targets affected all five CMSs and that some genes were CMS-specific. We obtained experimental data on the lethality of cancer cell lines from the DepMap database to validate the identified essential genes. The results reveal that most of the identified essential genes were compatible with the colorectal cancer cell lines obtained from DepMap and that these genes, with the exception of EBP, LSS, and SLC7A6, could generate a high level of cell death when knocked out. The identified essential genes were mostly involved in cholesterol biosynthesis, nucleotide metabolisms, and the glycerophospholipid biosynthetic pathway. The genes involved in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway were also revealed to be determinable, if a cholesterol uptake reaction was not induced when the cells were in the culture medium. However, the genes involved in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway became non-essential if such a reaction was induced. Furthermore, the essential gene CRLS1 was revealed as a medium-independent target for all CMSs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Ting Cheng
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Jin-Mei Lai
- Department of Life Science, College of Science and Engineering, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Peter Mu-Hsin Chang
- Department of Oncology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Faculty of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Ren Hong
- Department of Biochemistry and Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Ying F Huang
- Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
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Wang FS, Chen PR, Chen TY, Zhang HX. Fuzzy optimization for identifying anti-cancer targets with few side effects in constraint-based models of head and neck cancer. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220633. [PMID: 36303939 PMCID: PMC9597175 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Computer-aided methods can be used to screen potential candidate targets and to reduce the time and cost of drug development. In most of these methods, synthetic lethality is used as a therapeutic criterion to identify drug targets. However, these methods do not consider the side effects during the identification stage. This study developed a fuzzy multi-objective optimization for identifying anti-cancer targets that not only evaluated cancer cell mortality, but also minimized side effects due to treatment. We identified potential anti-cancer enzymes and antimetabolites for the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC). The identified one- and two-target enzymes were primarily involved in six major pathways, namely, purine and pyrimidine metabolism and the pentose phosphate pathway. Most of the identified targets can be regulated by approved drugs; thus, these drugs are potential candidates for drug repurposing as a treatment for HNC. Furthermore, we identified antimetabolites involved in pathways similar to those identified using a gene-centric approach. Moreover, HMGCR knockdown could not block the growth of HNC cells. However, the two-target combinations of (UMPS, HMGCR) and (CAD, HMGCR) could achieve cell mortality and improve metabolic deviation grades over 22% without reducing the cell viability grade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng-Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Pei-Rong Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Ting-Yu Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Hao-Xiang Zhang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
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Wang FS, Wang TY, Wu WH. Fuzzy multiobjective hierarchical optimization with application to identify antienzymes of colon cancer cells. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2021.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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Wang FS, Chen KL, Chu SW. Human/SARS-CoV-2 Genome-Scale Metabolic Modeling to Discover Potential Antiviral Targets for COVID-19. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 2022; 133:104273. [PMID: 35186172 PMCID: PMC8843340 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2022.104273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Feng-Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 621301, Taiwan
| | - Ke-Lin Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 621301, Taiwan
| | - Sz-Wei Chu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 621301, Taiwan
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Cheng CT, Wang TY, Chen PR, Wu WH, Lai JM, Chang PMH, Hong YR, Huang CYF, Wang FS. Computer-Aided Design for Identifying Anticancer Targets in Genome-Scale Metabolic Models of Colon Cancer. BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10111115. [PMID: 34827109 PMCID: PMC8614794 DOI: 10.3390/biology10111115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Revised: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Simple Summary Discovery of anticancer targets with minimal side effects is a major challenge in drug discovery and development. This study developed a fuzzy optimization framework for identifying anticancer targets. The framework was applied to identify not only gene regulator targets but also metabolite- and reaction-centric targets. The computational results show that the combination of a carbon metabolism target and any one-target gene that participates in the sphingolipid, glycerophospholipid, nucleotide, cholesterol biosynthesis, or pentose phosphate pathways is more effective for treatment than one-target inhibition is, and a two-target combination of 5-FU and folate supplement can improve cell viability, reduce metabolic deviation, and reduce side effects of normal cells. Abstract The efficient discovery of anticancer targets with minimal side effects is a major challenge in drug discovery and development. Early prediction of side effects is key for reducing development costs, increasing drug efficacy, and increasing drug safety. This study developed a fuzzy optimization framework for Identifying AntiCancer Targets (IACT) using constraint-based models. Four objectives were established to evaluate the mortality of treated cancer cells and to minimize side effects causing toxicity-induced tumorigenesis on normal cells and smaller metabolic perturbations. Fuzzy set theory was applied to evaluate potential side effects and investigate the magnitude of metabolic deviations in perturbed cells compared with their normal counterparts. The framework was applied to identify not only gene regulator targets but also metabolite- and reaction-centric targets. A nested hybrid differential evolution algorithm with a hierarchical fitness function was applied to solve multilevel IACT problems. The results show that the combination of a carbon metabolism target and any one-target gene that participates in the sphingolipid, glycerophospholipid, nucleotide, cholesterol biosynthesis, or pentose phosphate pathways is more effective for treatment than one-target inhibition is. A clinical antimetabolite drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been used to inhibit synthesis of deoxythymidine-5′-triphosphate for treatment of colorectal cancer. The computational results reveal that a two-target combination of 5-FU and a folate supplement can improve cell viability, reduce metabolic deviation, and reduce side effects of normal cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Ting Cheng
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 62102, Taiwan; (C.-T.C.); (T.-Y.W.); (P.-R.C.); (W.-H.W.)
| | - Tsun-Yu Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 62102, Taiwan; (C.-T.C.); (T.-Y.W.); (P.-R.C.); (W.-H.W.)
| | - Pei-Rong Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 62102, Taiwan; (C.-T.C.); (T.-Y.W.); (P.-R.C.); (W.-H.W.)
| | - Wu-Hsiung Wu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 62102, Taiwan; (C.-T.C.); (T.-Y.W.); (P.-R.C.); (W.-H.W.)
| | - Jin-Mei Lai
- Department of Life Science, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan;
| | - Peter Mu-Hsin Chang
- Department of Oncology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 11217, Taiwan;
- Faculty of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 11211, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Ren Hong
- Department of Biochemistry, Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City 80708, Taiwan;
| | - Chi-Ying F. Huang
- Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 11211, Taiwan;
- Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 11211, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 62102, Taiwan; (C.-T.C.); (T.-Y.W.); (P.-R.C.); (W.-H.W.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +886-5-2720411 (ext. 33404)
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Wang YT, Lin MR, Chen WC, Wu WH, Wang FS. Optimization of a modeling platform to predict oncogenes from genome-scale metabolic networks of non-small-cell lung cancers. FEBS Open Bio 2021. [PMID: 34137202 PMCID: PMC8329960 DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.13231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer cell dysregulations result in the abnormal regulation of cellular metabolic pathways. By simulating this metabolic reprogramming using constraint-based modeling approaches, oncogenes can be predicted, and this knowledge can be used in prognosis and treatment. We introduced a trilevel optimization problem describing metabolic reprogramming for inferring oncogenes. First, this study used RNA-Seq expression data of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) samples and their healthy counterparts to reconstruct tissue-specific genome-scale metabolic models and subsequently build the flux distribution pattern that provided a measure for the oncogene inference optimization problem for determining tumorigenesis. The platform detected 45 genes for LUAD and 84 genes for LUSC that lead to tumorigenesis. A high level of differentially expressed genes was not an essential factor for determining tumorigenesis. The platform indicated that pyruvate kinase (PKM), a well-known oncogene with a low level of differential gene expression in LUAD and LUSC, had the highest fitness among the predicted oncogenes based on computation. By contrast, pyruvate kinase L/R (PKLR), an isozyme of PKM, had a high level of differential gene expression in both cancers. Phosphatidylserine synthase 1 (PTDSS1), an oncogene in LUAD, was inferred to have a low level of differential gene expression, and overexpression could significantly reduce survival probability. According to the factor analysis, PTDSS1 characteristics were close to those of the template, but they were unobvious in LUSC. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has recently garnered widespread interest as the SARS-CoV-2 virus receptor. Moreover, we determined that ACE2 is an oncogene of LUSC but not of LUAD. The platform developed in this study can identify oncogenes with low levels of differential expression and be used to identify potential therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- You-Tyun Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Min-Ru Lin
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Chen Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Wu-Hsiung Wu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Sheng Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
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