Meta-Analysis of Continuous Phenotypes Identifies a Gene Signature that Correlates with COPD Disease Status

The utility of multi-cohort two-class meta-analysis to identify robust differentially expressed gene signatures has been well established. However, many biomedical applications, such as gene signatures of disease progression, require one-class analysis. Here we describe an R package, MetaCorrelator, that can identify a reproducible transcriptional signature that is correlated with a continuous disease phenotype across multiple datasets. We successfully applied this framework to extract a pattern of gene expression that can predict lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in both peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and tissue. Our results point to a disregulation in the oxidation state of the lungs of patients with COPD, as well as underscore the classically recognized inammatory state that underlies this disease.