Molecular investigation and diagnosis of lung cancer via the network-based biomarker

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Many studies have investigated the carcinogenic process and identified the biomarkers for signature classification. However, to the best of knowledge, there is no satisfactory network-based method for carcinogenesis characterization and diagnosis from the systems perspective. In this study, a systems biology approach, which integrated microarray gene expression profiles and protein-protein interaction information, was proposed to develop a network-based biomarker for molecular investigation and diagnosis of lung cancer. A total of 40 significant proteins are identified with carcinogenesis relevance values (CRVs) to gain an insight into the network mechanism of lung carcinogenesis. In addition, the network-based biomarker is also acted as the diagnostic tool, demonstrated to be effective to diagnose the smokers with lung cancer.