Purpose of reviewWith the advancement of computational approaches and abundance of biomedical data, a broad range of neurodegenerative disease models have been developed. In this review, we argue that computational models can be both relevant and useful in neurodegenerative disease research and although the current established models have limitations in clinical practice, artificial intelligence has the potential to overcome deficiencies encountered by these models, which in turn can improve our understanding of disease. Recent findingsIn recent years, diverse computational approaches have been used to shed light on different aspects of neurodegenerative disease models. For example, linear and nonlinear mixed models, self-modeling regression, differential equation models, and event-based models have been applied to provide a better understanding of disease progression patterns and biomarker trajectories. Additionally, the Cox-regression technique, Bayesian network models, and deep-learning-based approaches have been used to predict the probability of future incidence of disease, whereas nonnegative matrix factorization, nonhierarchical cluster analysis, hierarchical agglomerative clustering, and deep-learning-based approaches have been employed to stratify patients based on their disease subtypes. Furthermore, the interpretation of neurodegenerative disease data is possible through knowledge-based models which use prior knowledge to complement datadriven analyses. These knowledge-based models can include pathway-centric approaches to establish pathways perturbed in a given condition, as well as disease-specific knowledge maps, which elucidate the mechanisms involved in a given disease. Collectively, these established models have revealed high granular details and insights into neurodegenerative disease models.

Dementia-related diseases like Alzheimer's Disease (AD) have a tremendous social and economic cost. A deeper understanding of its underlying pathophysiologies may provide an opportunity for earlier detection and therapeutic intervention. Previous approaches for characterizing AD were targeted at single aspects of the disease. Yet, due to the complex nature of AD, the success of these approaches was limited. However, in recent years, advancements in integrative disease modeling, built on a wide range of AD biomarkers, have taken a global view on the disease, facilitating more comprehensive analysis and interpretation. Integrative AD models can be sorted in two primary types, namely hypothetical models and data-driven models. The latter group split into two subgroups: (i) Models that use traditional statistical methods such as linear models, (ii) Models that take advantage of more advanced artificial intelligence approaches such as machine learning. While many integrative AD models have been published over the last decade, their impact on clinical practice is limited. There exist major challenges in the course of integrative AD modeling, namely data missingness and censoring, imprecise human-involved priori knowledge, model reproducibility, dataset interoperability, dataset integration, and model interpretability. In this review, we highlight recent advancements and future possibilities of integrative modeling in the field of AD research, showcase and discuss the limitations and challenges involved, and finally, propose avenues to address several of these challenges.

The utility of pathway signatures lies in their capability to determine whether a specific pathway or biological process is dysregulated in a given patient. These signatures have been widely used in machine learning (ML) methods for a variety of applications including precision medicine, drug repurposing, and drug discovery. In this work, we leverage highly predictive ML models for drug response simulation in individual patients by calibrating the pathway activity scores of disease samples. Using these ML models and an intuitive scoring algorithm to modify the signatures of patients, we evaluate whether a given sample that was formerly classified as diseased, could be predicted as normal following drug treatment simulation. We then use this technique as a proxy for the identification of potential drug candidates. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of our methodology to successfully identify approved and clinically investigated drugs for four different cancers, outperforming six comparable state-of-the-art methods. We also show how this approach can deconvolute a drugs’ mechanism of action and propose combination therapies. Taken together, our methodology could be promising to support clinical decision-making in personalized medicine by simulating a drugs’ effect on a given patient.

Background Previous models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression were primarily hypothetical or based on data originating from single cohort studies. However, cohort datasets are subject to specific inclusion and exclusion criteria that influence the signals observed in their collected data. Furthermore, each study measures only a subset of AD-relevant variables. To gain a comprehensive understanding of AD progression, the heterogeneity and robustness of estimated progression patterns must be understood, and complementary information contained in cohort datasets be leveraged. Methods We compared ten event-based models that we fit to ten independent AD cohort datasets. Additionally, we designed and applied a novel rank aggregation algorithm that combines partially overlapping, individual event sequences into a meta-sequence containing the complementary information from each cohort. Results We observed overall consistency across the ten event-based model sequences (average pairwise Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient of 0.69 ± 0.28), despite variance in the positioning of mainly imaging variables. The changes described in the aggregated meta-sequence are broadly consistent with the current understanding of AD progression, starting with cerebrospinal fluid amyloid beta, followed by tauopathy, memory impairment, FDG-PET, and ultimately brain deterioration and impairment of visual memory. Conclusion Overall, the event-based models demonstrated similar and robust disease cascades across independent AD cohorts. Aggregation of data-driven results can combine complementary strengths and information of patient-level datasets. Accordingly, the derived meta-sequence draws a more complete picture of AD pathology compared to models relying on single cohorts.

Background: Neuroimaging markers provide quantitative insight into brain structure and function in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, where we lack mechanistic insights to explain pathophysiology. These mechanisms are often mediated by genes and genetic variations and are often studied through the lens of genome-wide association studies. Linking these two disparate layers (i.e., imaging and genetic variation) through causal relationships between biological entities involved in the disease’s etiology would pave the way to large-scale mechanistic reasoning and interpretation. Objective: We explore how genetic variants may lead to functional alterations of intermediate molecular traits, which can further impact neuroimaging hallmarks over a series of biological processes across multiple scales. Methods: We present an approach in which knowledge pertaining to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and imaging readouts is extracted from the literature, encoded in Biological Expression Language, and used in a novel workflow to assist in the functional interpretation of SNPs in a clinical context. Results: We demonstrate our approach in a case scenario which proposes KANSL1 as a candidate gene that accounts for the clinically reported correlation between the incidence of the genetic variants and hippocampal atrophy. We find that the workflow prioritizes multiple mechanisms reported in the literature through which KANSL1 may have an impact on hippocampal atrophy such as through the dysregulation of cell proliferation, synaptic plasticity, and metabolic processes. Conclusion: We have presented an approach that enables pinpointing relevant genetic variants as well as investigating their functional role in biological processes spanning across several, diverse biological scales.

Motivation A global medical crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic requires interdisciplinary and highly collaborative research from all over the world. One of the key challenges for collaborative research is a lack of interoperability among various heterogeneous data sources. Interoperability, standardization and mapping of datasets is necessary for data analysis and applications in advanced algorithms such as developing personalized risk prediction modeling. Results To ensure the interoperability and compatibility among COVID-19 datasets, we present here a Common Data Model (CDM) which has been built from 11 different COVID-19 datasets from various geographical locations. The current version of the CDM holds 4639 data variables related to COVID-19 such as basic patient information (age, biological sex, and diagnosis) as well as disease-specific data variables, for example, Anosmia and Dispnea. Each of the data variables in the data model is associated with specific data types, variable mappings, value ranges, data units, and data encodings that could be used for standardizing any dataset. Moreover, the compatibility with established data standards like OMOP and FHIR makes the CDM a well-designed common data model for COVID-19 data interoperability. Availability The CDM is available in a public repo here: https://github.com/Fraunhofer-SCAI-Applied-Semantics/COVID-19-Global-Model Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The utility of pathway signatures lies in their capability to determine whether a specific pathway or biological process is dysregulated in a given patient. These signatures have been widely used in machine learning (ML) methods for a variety of applications including precision medicine, drug repurposing, and drug discovery. In this work, we leverage highly predictive ML models for drug response simulation in individual patients by calibrating the pathway activity scores of disease samples. Using these ML models and a novel scoring algorithm to modify the signatures of patients, we evaluate whether a given sample that was formerly classified as diseased, could be predicted as normal following drug treatment simulation. We then use this technique as a proxy for the identification of potential drug candidates. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of our methodology to successfully identify approved and clinically investigated drugs for three different cancers. We also show how this approach can deconvolute a drugs’ mechanism of action and propose combination therapies. Taken together, our methodology could be promising to support clinical decision-making in personalized medicine by simulating a drugs’ effect on a given patient.

BackgroundPrevious models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression were primarily hypothetical or based on data originating from single cohort studies. However, cohort datasets are subject to specific inclusion and exclusion criteria that influence the signals observed in their collected data. Furthermore, each study measures only a subset of AD relevant variables. To gain a comprehensive understanding of AD progression, the heterogeneity and robustness of estimated progression patterns must be understood, and complementary information contained in cohort datasets be leveraged.MethodsWe compared ten event-based models that we fit to ten independent AD cohort datasets. Additionally, we designed and applied a novel rank aggregation algorithm that combines partially overlapping, individual event sequences into a meta-sequence containing the complementary information from each cohort.ResultsWe observed overall consistency across the ten event-based model sequences (Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient of 0.78±0.13), despite variance in the positioning of mainly imaging variables. The changes described in the aggregated meta-sequence are broadly consistent with current understanding of AD progression, starting with cerebrospinal fluid amyloid beta, followed by memory impairment, tauopathy, FDG-PET, and ultimately brain deterioration and impairment of visual memory.ConclusionOverall, the event-based models demonstrated similar and robust disease cascades across independent AD cohorts. Aggregation of data-driven results can combine complementary strengths and information of patient-level datasets. Accordingly, the derived meta-sequence draws a more complete picture of AD pathology compared to models relying on single cohorts.