Associations between Serum Mineral Nutrients, Gut Microbiota, and Risk of Neurological, Psychiatric, and Metabolic Diseases: A Comprehensive Mendelian Randomization Study.

Recent observational studies have reported associations between serum mineral nutrient levels, gut microbiota composition, and neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic diseases. However, the causal effects of mineral nutrients on gut microbiota and their causal associations with diseases remain unclear and require further investigation. This study aimed to identify the associations between serum mineral nutrients, gut microbiota, and risk of neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic diseases using Mendelian randomization (MR).

Facilitating Antiviral Drug Discovery Using Genetic and Evolutionary Knowledge.

Over the course of human history, billions of people worldwide have been infected by various viruses. Despite rapid progress in the development of biomedical techniques, it is still a significant challenge to find promising new antiviral targets and drugs. In the past, antiviral drugs mainly targeted viral proteins when they were used as part of treatment strategies.

Agent Clustering Strategy Based on Metabolic Flux Distribution and Transcriptome Expression for Novel Drug Development.

The network module-based method has been used for drug repositioning. The traditional drug repositioning method only uses the gene characteristics of the drug but ignores the drug-triggered metabolic changes. The metabolic network systematically characterizes the connection between genes, proteins, and metabolic reactions.

Systems Pharmacology-Based Precision Therapy and Drug Combination Discovery for Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer (BC) is a common disease and one of the main causes of death in females worldwide. In the omics era, researchers have used various high-throughput sequencing technologies to accumulate massive amounts of biomedical data and reveal an increasing number of disease-related mutations/genes. It is a major challenge to use these data effectively to find drugs that may protect human health.

Causal Inference in Microbiome Medicine: Principles and Applications.

Microorganisms that colonize the mammalian skin and cavity play critical roles in various physiological functions of the host. Numerous studies have revealed strong associations between the microbiota and multiple diseases. However, association does not mean causation.

Genome-wide pathogenesis interpretation using a heat diffusion-based systems genetics method and implications for gene function annotation.

Background: Genetics is best dedicated to interpreting pathogenesis and revealing gene functions. The past decade has witnessed unprecedented progress in genetics, particularly in genome-wide identification of disorder variants through Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and Phenome-Wide Association Studies (PheWAS). However, it is still a great challenge to use GWAS/PheWAS-derived data to elucidate pathogenesis.

Identification of NUDT5 Inhibitors From Approved Drugs.

Recent studies have revealed the important role of NUDT5 in estrogen signaling and breast cancer, but research on the corresponding targeted therapy has just started. Drug repositioning strategy can effectively reduce the time and economic resources spent on drug discovery. To find novel inhibitors of NUDT5, we investigated the previously identified connectivity map-based drug association models and found eighteen FDA approved drugs as candidates.

Systems Chemical Genetics-Based Drug Discovery: Prioritizing Agents Targeting Multiple/Reliable Disease-Associated Genes as Drug Candidates.

Genetic disease genes are considered a promising source of drug targets. Most diseases are caused by more than one pathogenic factor; thus, it is reasonable to consider that chemical agents targeting multiple disease genes are more likely to have desired activities. This is supported by a comprehensive analysis on the relationships between agent activity/druggability and target genetic characteristics.

Drug Repurposing for Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection by Systems Biology Methods.

Japanese encephalitis is a zoonotic disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). It is mainly epidemic in Asia with an estimated 69,000 cases occurring per year. However, no approved agents are available for the treatment of JEV infection, and existing vaccines cannot control various types of JEV strains.