Analysis of Signalling Events: A Method to Integrate Protein Interaction and Gene Expression Data

Signaltransduction is crucial for the interplay of cells in multicellular organisms and controls among other things cellular proliferation and differentiation. The complexity of signalling networks and the absence of comprehensive and accurate quantitative data proves a mathematical description difficult. This work deals with the questions, if and how predications about signalling processes for specific cellular models can be made with the aid of interaction databases and gene expression profiles.Starting from molecular interaction-databases complex networks are generated comprising all known cellular signalling paths. But not all of them play a role in a specific cellular model. The specific adaptation of the networks to a given system is achieved by additional integration of gene expression data. The proposed method is able to cope with contradicting data and pays attention to the importance of feedback loops for differentiation processes.The book is primarily intended for an audience interested either in methods to analyse large cyclic networks for which insufficient data is available or to integrate information from genomics and proteomics.