Transcription factor and microRNA-regulated network motifs for cancer and signal transduction networks

Background: Molecular networks are the basis of biological processes. Such networks can be decomposed into smaller modules, also known as network motifs. These motifs show interesting dynamical behaviors, in which co-operativity effects between the motif components play a critical role in human diseases. We have developed a motif-searching algorithm, which is able to identify common motif types from the cancer networks and signal transduction networks (STNs). Some of the network motifs are interconnected which can be merged together and form more complex structures, the so-called coupled motif structures (CMS). These structures exhibit mixed dynamical behavior, which may lead biological organisms to perform specific functions. Results: In this study, we integrate transcription factors (TFs), microRNAs (miRNAs), miRNA targets and network motifs information to build the cancer-related TF-miRNA-motif networks (TMMN). This allows us to examine the role of network motifs in cancer formation at different levels of regulation, i.e. transcription initiation (TF --> miRNA), gene-gene interaction (CMS), and post-transcriptional regulation (miRNA --> target genes). Among the cancer networks and STNs we considered, it is found that there is a substantial amount of crosstalking through motif interconnections, in particular, the crosstalk between prostate cancer network and PI3K-Akt STN. Conclusions: To validate the role of network motifs in cancer formation, several examples are presented which demonstrated the effectiveness of the present approach. A web-based platform has been set up which can be accessed at: http://ppi.bioinfo.asia.edu.tw/pathway/. It is very likely that our results can supply very specific CMS missing information for certain cancer types, it is an indispensable tool for cancer biology research.