Iterative integrated imputation for missing data and pathway models with applications to breast cancer subtypes

Tumor development is driven by complex combinations of biological elements. Recent advances suggest that molecularly distinct subtypes of breast cancers may respond differently to pathway-targeted therapies. Thus, it is important to dissect pathway disturbances by integrating multiple molecular profiles, such as genetic, genomic and epigenomic data. However, missing data are often present in the -omic profiles of interest. Motivated by genomic data integration and imputation, we present a new statistical framework for pathway significance analysis. Specifically, we develop a new strategy for imputation of missing data in large-scale genomic studies, which adapts low-rank, structured matrix completion. Our iterative strategy enables us to impute missing data in complex configurations across multiple data platforms. In turn, we perform large-scale pathway analysis integrating gene expression, copy number, and methylation data. The advantages of the proposed statistical framework are demonstrated through simulations and real applications to breast cancer subtypes. We demonstrate superior power to identify pathway disturbances, compared with other imputation strategies. We also identify differential pathway activity across different breast tumor subtypes.