Introduction
Exploratory avatars provide a global view of every biological process, signs, symptoms, proteins, cell types, tissues and organs that are associated with, or contribute to, disease progression. It is the perfect tool to find R&D prospects and kickstart new research.
Materials
- Exploratory Avatar as of, e.g., Acute Coronary Syndrome aka ACS,
- OneTreck access to avatar (see OneTreck marketplace).
Case Study: Acute Coronary Syndrome – ACS
In order to illustrate this case, we used the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). ACS is a myocardial ischemic episode that ultimately may lead to a myocardial infarction (red node, see Figure 1).
The visualization of the avatar, shows that the most prominent and well-studied entities, are positioned at the center of the avatar. In other word, the further you are from the center of the avatar, the closest you are to the knowledge borders.
Methods
Understanding this representation and the methods we used to construct the avatar, brings an interesting concept: the farest entities are also the one that are not well-known in the description of the disease. In other words, picking at the extremities of the avatar will pinpoint at new concepts and ideas to further study the disease.
Results
Starting with positive controls. Investigation of the avatar, shows that ACS is strongly linked to blood circulation (and the cessation of blood flow), as well as to patient with a graft occlusion condition (see Figure 2). From the most common signs and symptoms aspects, we could find that Ischemia, Angina pectoris and Sleep apnea are all associated with, or contribute to ACS. Altogether, these data could be used as reinsurance and demonstrate that avatars are built on solid grounds of information retrieval with tractable sources.
Thinking out of the box. Looking at the extremities of the avatar, is a quick and simple way to identify R&D prospects and reach the frontline of scientific discovery.
For example, we identified 2 promising hypothesis involving ACS and biological processes, using our exploratory avatar.
On the first hand, we found a series of references suggesting that platelet activation could be linked to ACS (see Figure 3).
On the second hand, we identified evidences of a putative link between adaptive immune response and ACS in patients. The use of immunoscenescence of t-lymphocytes pointed that a reduced expansion of regulatory T cells, might be involved in coronary instability (not shown).
Finally, we found that an impairment of endothelium release, could be linked to ACS (not shown).
Conclusions
By using our exploratory avatar on ACS, Acute Coronary Syndrome, we were able to both, quickly assess the knowledge borders, for this particular syndrome, as well as to identify possible prospects to further study the disease.
What’s next?*
Avatars models of disease progression, as the one we presented for ACS, could be fine-tuned by integrating your own data (e.g. multi-omics, semantical data, imaging annotations). See our Manta platform for data integration or contact us for more insights.
*Please see the application resources on our Access Hub, or contact us.
