WEDNESDAY APRIL 27, 2011

GENE REGULATORY NETWORKS AND MODELING

Using network modeling and simulation to explore the dynamics of Th1 and Th2 cell regulation in the emergence of hypersensitivity reactions

Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes are thought to be counter-regulatory. A network model of genes that regulate Th1 and Th2 cells was constructed by automated mining of 18 million abstracts in Medline. Analysis of the dynamics of this model using in silico knock-outs suggested a synergistic, rather than a counter-regulatory, relationship between Th1 and Th2 cells. This was supported by analysis of public gene expression microarray data from different inflammatory diseases. Network modeling using public data may be generally applicable to understand complex regulatory networks in health and disease. (See Pedicini et al., doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001032.)

M. Pedicini, F. Barrenas, T. Clancy, F. Castiglione, E. Hovig, K. Kanduri, D. Santoni and M. Benson. Combining network modeling and gene expression microarray analysis to explore the dynamics of Th1 and Th2 cell regulation. PLoS Comput Biol 6(12): e1001032 (2010). doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001032