Analysis of defective pathways and drug repositioning in Multiple Sclerosis via machine learning approaches

BACKGROUND Although some studies show that there could be a genetic predisposition to develop Multiple Sclerosis (MS), attempts to find genetic signatures related to MS diagnosis and development are extremely rare. METHOD We carried out a retrospective analysis of two different microarray datasets, using machine learning techniques to understand the defective pathways involved in this disease. We have modeled two data sets that are publicly accessible. The first was used to establish the list of most discriminatory genes; whereas, the second one was utilized for validation purposes. RESULTS The analysis provided a list of high discriminatory genes with predictive cross-validation accuracy higher than 95%, both in learning and in blind validation. The results were confirmed via the holdout sampler. The most discriminatory genes were related to the production of Hemoglobin. The biological processes involved were related to T-cell Receptor Signaling and co-stimulation, Interferon-Gamma Signaling and Antigen Processing and Presentation. Drug repositioning via CMAP methodologies highlighted the importance of Trichostatin A and other HDAC inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS The defective pathways suggest viral or bacterial infections as plausible mechanisms involved in MS development. The pathway analysis also confirmed coincidences with Epstein-Barr virus, Influenza A, Toxoplasmosis, Tuberculosis and Staphylococcus Aureus infections. Th17 Cell differentiation, and CD28 co-stimulation seemed to be crucial in the development of this disease. Furthermore, the additional knowledge provided by this analysis helps to identify new therapeutic targets.