A robust mRNA signature obtained via Recursive Ensemble Feature
Selection predicts the responsiveness of omalizumab in
moderate-to-severe asthma
Abstract
Background: Not being well controlled by therapy with inhaled
corticosteroids and long-acting β2 agonist bronchodilators is a major
concern for severe-asthma patients. Current treatment option for these
patients is the use of biologicals such as anti-IgE treatment,
omalizumab, as add-on therapy. Despite the accepted use of omalizumab,
patients do not always benefit from it. Therefore, there is a need to
identify reliable biomarkers as predictors of omalizumab response.
Methods: Two novel computational algorithms, machine-learning
based Recursive Ensemble Feature Selection (REFS) and rule-based
algorithm Logic Explainable Networks (LEN ) were used on open accessible
mRNA expression data from moderate-to-severe asthma patients to identify
genes as predictors of omalizumab response Results: With REFS,
the number of features were reduced from 28,402 genes to 5 genes while
obtaining a cross-validated accuracy of 0.975. The 5 responsiveness
predictive genes encode for the following proteins: Coiled-coil domain-
containing protein 113 (CCDC113), Solute Carrier Family 26 Member 8
(SLC26A), Protein Phosphatase 1 Regulatory Subunit 3D (PPP1R3D), C-Type
lectin Domain Family 4 member C (CLEC4C) and LOC100131780 (not
annotated). The LEN algorithm found 4 identical genes with REFS: CCDC113
,SLC26A8 PPP1R3D and LOC100131780. Literature research showed that the 4
identified responsiveness predicting genes are associated with: mucosal
immunity, cell metabolism, and airway remodeling. Conclusion and
clinical relevance: Both computational methods show 4 identical genes
as predictors of omalizumab response in moderate-to-severe asthma
patients. The obtained high accuracy indicates that our approach has
potential for clinical settings. Future studies in relevant cohort data
should validate our computational approach.