Gene interaction map: a paradigm for identifying significant pathways responsible for rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the joints and may cause inflammation of other tissues in the body. It is mainly caused by combination of factors including abnormal autoimmune response, genetic susceptibility and some environmental or biological triggers. A number of pathways have been shown to be affected wherein numerous molecules are known to be involved. Uncovering the molecular pathways in this disease becomes more difficult as it is complicated with genetic, environmental and more over inflammatory and autoimmune parameters. Hence, network biology approach is used to identify the important pathways and molecules which play significant role in RA through Gene Interaction Map (GIP) of 1,200 nodes and 5,286 edges. Our studies elucidate the relationship between topological properties of GIP and the role played by molecules in cellular system, which helps in defining the organizational mechanism used in cellular system. K -core decomposition method identified novel genes and revealed the correlation between toll-like receptor, MAPK signaling, apoptosis, t cell receptor signaling and epithelial cell signaling pathways.