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Data completeness—the Achilles heel of drug-target networks

Nature Biotechnology volume 26, pages 983–984 (2008)Cite this article

To the Editor:

The use of network-based approaches to visualize and analyze different types of biologically relevant interaction data has become increasingly popular in recent years. Topological studies of these interaction networks offer a means to assess the interconnectivity structure established among and between diseases, genes, proteins, and molecules from which influential conclusions and global trends in biology and drug discovery can be derived1,2,3. However, in spite of its indubitable value, currently available interaction data is far from being complete and the portion accessible is often nonhomogeneous and biased toward certain areas of interest4. This situation results in sample networks that may not be representative of the whole network and thus caution on the conclusions drawn should be highlighted.

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Figure 1: Changes in network topology under different levels of completeness for drug-target interaction data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemogenomics Laboratory, Research Unit on Biomedical Informatics, Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Jordi Mestres & Elisabet Gregori-Puigjané

  2. Complex Systems Laboratory, Research Unit on Biomedical Informatics, Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Sergi Valverde & Ricard V Solé

  3. CNRS-UMR, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

    Sergi Valverde

  4. Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, USA

    Ricard V Solé

Authors
  1. Jordi Mestres
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  3. Sergi Valverde
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  4. Ricard V Solé
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Mestres, J., Gregori-Puigjané, E., Valverde, S. et al. Data completeness—the Achilles heel of drug-target networks. Nat Biotechnol 26, 983–984 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0908-983

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