A systems approach reveals distinct metabolic strategies among the NCI-60 cancer cell lines

in PLoS Computational Biology (2017)

Computational modeling of human metabolism and its application to systems biomedicine

in Wolkenhauer, Olaf; Schmitz, Ulf (Eds.) Systems Medicine (2015)

Modern high-throughput techniques offer immense opportunities to investigate whole-systems behavior, such as those underlying human diseases. However, the complexity of the data presents challenges in ... [more ▼]

Modern high-throughput techniques offer immense opportunities to investigate whole-systems behavior, such as those underlying human diseases. However, the complexity of the data presents challenges in interpretation, and new avenues are needed to address the complexity of both diseases and data. Constraint-based modeling is one formalism applied in systems biology. It relies on a genome-scale reconstruction that captures extensive biochemical knowledge regarding an organism. The human genome-scale metabolic reconstruction is increasingly used to understand normal cellular and disease states because metabolism is an important factor in many human diseases. The application of human genome-scale reconstruction ranges from mere querying of the model as a knowledge-base to studies that take advantage of the model’s topology, and most notably, to functional predictions based on cell- and condition-specific metabolic models built based on omics data. An increasing number and diversity of biomedical questions are being addressed using constraint-based modeling and metabolic models. One of the most successful biomedical applications to date is cancer metabolism, but constraint-based modeling also holds great potential for inborn errors of metabolism or obesity. In addition, it offers great prospects for individualized approaches to diagnostics and the design of disease prevention and intervention strategies. Metabolic models support this endeavor by providing easy access to complex high-throughput datasets. Personalized metabolic models have been introduced. Finally, constraint-based modeling can be used to model whole-body metabolism, which will enable the elucidation of metabolic interactions between organs and disturbances of these interactions as either causes or consequence of metabolic diseases. This chapter introduces constraint-based modeling and describes some of its contributions to systems biomedicine. [less ▲]

Membrane transporters in a human genome-scale metabolic knowledgebase and their implications for disease

in Frontiers in Physiology (2014), 5

Membrane transporters enable efficient cellular metabolism, aid in nutrient sensing, and have been associated with various diseases, such as obesity and cancer. Genome-scale metabolic network ... [more ▼]

Membrane transporters enable efficient cellular metabolism, aid in nutrient sensing, and have been associated with various diseases, such as obesity and cancer. Genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions capture genomic, physiological, and biochemical knowledge of a target organism, along with a detailed representation of the cellular metabolite transport mechanisms. Since the first reconstruction of human metabolism, Recon 1, published in 2007, progress has been made in the field of metabolite transport. Recently, we published an updated reconstruction, Recon 2, which significantly improved the metabolic coverage and functionality. Human metabolic reconstructions have been used to investigate the role of metabolism in disease and to predict biomarkers and drug targets. Given the importance of cellular transport systems in understanding human metabolism in health and disease, we analyzed the coverage of transport systems for various metabolite classes in Recon 2. We will review the current knowledge on transporters (i.e., their preferred substrates, transport mechanisms, metabolic relevance, and disease association for each metabolite class). We will assess missing coverage and propose modifications and additions through a transport module that is functional when combined with Recon 2. This information will be valuable for further refinements. These data will also provide starting points for further experiments by highlighting areas of incomplete knowledge. This review represents the first comprehensive overview of the transporters involved in central metabolism and their transport mechanisms, thus serving as a compendium of metabolite transporters specific for human metabolic reconstructions. [less ▲]

Contextualization procedure and modeling of monocyte specific TLR signaling.

in PLoS ONE (2012), 7(12), 49978

Innate immunity is the first line of defense against invasion of pathogens. Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling is involved in a variety of human diseases extending far beyond immune system-related ... [more ▼]

Innate immunity is the first line of defense against invasion of pathogens. Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling is involved in a variety of human diseases extending far beyond immune system-related diseases, affecting a number of different tissues and cell-types. Computational models often do not account for cell-type specific differences in signaling networks. Investigation of these differences and its phenotypic implications could increase understanding of cell signaling and processes such as inflammation. The wealth of knowledge for TLR signaling has been recently summarized in a stoichiometric signaling network applicable for constraint-based modeling and analysis (COBRA). COBRA methods have been applied to investigate tissue-specific metabolism using omics data integration. Comparable approaches have not been conducted using signaling networks. In this study, we present ihsTLRv2, an updated TLR signaling network accounting for the association of 314 genes with 558 network reactions. We present a mapping procedure for transcriptomic data onto signaling networks and demonstrate the generation of a monocyte-specific TLR network. The generated monocyte network is characterized through expression of a specific set of isozymes rather than reduction of pathway contents. While further tailoring the network to a specific stimulation condition, we observed that the quantitative changes in gene expression due to LPS stimulation affected the tightly connected set of genes. Differential expression influenced about one third of the entire TLR signaling network, in particular, NF-kappaB activation. Thus, a cell-type and condition-specific signaling network can provide functional insight into signaling cascades. Furthermore, we demonstrate the energy dependence of TLR signaling pathways in monocytes. [less ▲]