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A Lifelike guided journey through the pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension-from measured metabolites to the mechanism of action of drugs

Weinstein N, Carlsen J, Schulz S, Stapleton T, Henriksen HH, Travnik E, Johansson PI

Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, 2024

6 citations

Abstract

Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a pathological condition that affects approximately 1% of the population. The prognosis for many patients is poor, even after treatment. Our knowledge about the pathophysiological mechanisms that cause or are involved in the progression of PH is incomplete. Additionally, the mechanism of action of many drugs used to treat pulmonary hypertension, including sotatercept, requires elucidation.

Methods: Using our graph-powered knowledge mining software Lifelike in combination with a very small patient metabolite data set, we demonstrate how we derive detailed mechanistic hypotheses on the mechanisms of PH pathophysiology and clinical drugs.

Results: In PH patients, the concentration of hypoxanthine, 12(S)-HETE, glutamic acid, and sphingosine 1 phosphate is significantly higher, while the concentration of L-arginine and L-histidine is lower than in healthy controls. Using the graph-based data analysis, gene ontology, and semantic association capabilities of Lifelike, led us to connect the differentially expressed metabolites with G-protein signaling and SRC. Then, we associated SRC with IL6 signaling. Subsequently, we found associations that connect SRC, and IL6 to activin and BMP signaling. Lastly, we analyzed the mechanisms of action of several existing and novel pharmacological treatments for PH. Lifelike elucidated the interplay between G-protein, IL6, activin, and BMP signaling. Those pathways regulate hallmark pathophysiological…

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