A

Phenotype prediction using biologically interpretable neural networks on multi-cohort multi-omics data

npj Systems Biology and Applications, vol. 10, pp. 81

Abstract

Abstract Integrating multi-omics data into predictive models has the potential to enhance accuracy, which is essential for precision medicine. In this study, we developed interpretable predictive models for multi-omics data by employing neural networks informed by prior biological knowledge, referred to as visible networks. These neural networks offer insights into the decision-making process and can unveil novel perspectives on the underlying biological mechanisms associated with traits and complex diseases. We tested the performance, interpretability and generalizability for inferring smoking status, subject age and LDL levels using genome-wide RNA expression and CpG methylation data from the blood of the BIOS consortium (four population cohorts, N total = 2940). In a cohort-wise cross-validation setting, the consistency of the diagnostic performance and interpretation was assessed. Performance was consistently high for predicting smoking status with an overall mean AUC of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.90–1.00) and interpretation revealed the involvement of well-replicated genes such as AHRR , GPR15 and LRRN3 . LDL-level predictions were only generalized in a single cohort with an R 2 of 0.07 (95% CI: 0.05–0.08). Age was inferred with a mean error of 5.16 (95% CI: 3.97–6.35) years with the genes COL11A2, AFAP1 , OTUD7A , PTPRN2 , ADARB2 and CD34 consistently predictive. For both regression tasks, we found that using multi-omics networks improved performance, stability and generalizability compared to interpretable single omic networks. We believe that visible neural networks have great potential for multi-omics analysis; they combine multi-omic data elegantly, are interpretable, and generalize well to data from different cohorts.

Authors 52

  1. Arno van Hilten corresponding

    Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. a.vanhilten@erasmusmc.nl

    Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  2. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  3. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  4. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  5. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  6. Amsterdam Neuroscience · Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  7. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  8. Amsterdam Neuroscience · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  9. Amsterdam Neuroscience · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  10. Amsterdam Neuroscience · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  11. Amsterdam Neuroscience · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  12. Maastricht University Medical Centre · Maastricht University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine and School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

  13. Maastricht University Medical Centre · Maastricht University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine and School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

  14. Maastricht University Medical Centre · Maastricht University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine and School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

  15. Maastricht University Medical Centre · Maastricht University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine and School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

  16. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  17. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  18. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  19. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  20. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  21. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  22. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  23. University Medical Center Utrecht

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

  24. University Medical Center Utrecht

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

  25. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetic Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  26. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  27. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetic Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  28. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  29. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  30. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  31. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  32. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  33. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  34. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  35. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Sequence Analysis Support Core, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  36. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  37. SURFsara (Netherlands)

    Affiliation as printed

    SURFsara, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  38. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Sequence Analysis Support Core, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  39. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  40. SURFsara (Netherlands)

    Affiliation as printed

    SURFsara, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  41. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  42. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  43. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  44. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  45. University Medical Center Groningen · University of Groningen

    Affiliation as printed

    Genomics Coordination Center, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

  46. Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Sequence Analysis Support Core, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  47. Leiden University · Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Medical Statistics, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  48. Leiden University · Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Medical Statistics, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  49. Leiden University · Leiden University Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Medical Statistics, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

  50. Delft University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Imaging Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

  51. Erasmus MC · Delft University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Imaging Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  52. Erasmus MC

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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References 49