Identifying key genes in cancer networks using persistent homology
摘要
Identifying driver genes is crucial for understanding oncogenesis and developing targeted cancer therapies. Driver discovery methods using protein or pathway networks rely on traditional network science measures, focusing on nodes, edges, or community metrics. These methods can overlook the high-dimensional interactions that cancer genes have within cancer networks. This study presents a novel method using Persistent Homology to analyze the role of driver genes in higher-order structures within Cancer Consensus Networks derived from main cellular pathways. We integrate mutation data from six cancer types and three biological functions: DNA Repair, Chromatin Organization, and Programmed Cell Death. We systematically evaluated the impact of gene removal on topological voids (