Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Canzler, Sebastian
• Schor, Jana
• Busch, Wibke
• Schubert, Kristin
• Rolle-Kampczyk, Ulrike E.
• Seitz, Hervé
• Kamp, Hennicke
• von Bergen, Martin
• Buesen, Roland
• Hackermüller, Jörg

Titel

Prospects and challenges of multi-omics data integration in toxicology

Ist Teil von

• Archives of toxicology, 2020-02, Vol.94 (2), p.371-388

Ort / Verlag

Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Exposure of cells or organisms to chemicals can trigger a series of effects at the regulatory pathway level, which involve changes of levels, interactions, and feedback loops of biomolecules of different types. A single-omics technique, e.g., transcriptomics, will detect biomolecules of one type and thus can only capture changes in a small subset of the biological cascade. Therefore, although applying single-omics analyses can lead to the identification of biomarkers for certain exposures, they cannot provide a systemic understanding of toxicity pathways or adverse outcome pathways. Integration of multiple omics data sets promises a substantial improvement in detecting this pathway response to a toxicant, by an increase of information as such and especially by a systemic understanding. Here, we report the findings of a thorough evaluation of the prospects and challenges of multi-omics data integration in toxicological research. We review the availability of such data, discuss options for experimental design, evaluate methods for integration and analysis of multi-omics data, discuss best practices, and identify knowledge gaps. Re-analyzing published data, we demonstrate that multi-omics data integration can considerably improve the confidence in detecting a pathway response. Finally, we argue that more data need to be generated from studies with a multi-omics-focused design, to define which omics layers contribute most to the identification of a pathway response to a toxicant.