A hybrid dynamic Bayesian network approach for modelling temporal associations of gene expressions for hypertension diagnosis

Computational and machine learning techniques have been applied in identifying biomarkers and constructing predictive models for diagnosis of hypertension. Strategies such as improved classification rules based on decision trees have been proposed. Other techniques such as Fuzzy Expert Systems (FES) and Neuro-Fuzzy Systems (NFS) have recently been applied. However, these methods lack the ability to detect temporal relationships among biomarker genes that will aid better understanding of the mechanism of hypertension disease. In this paper we apply a proposed two-stage bio-network construction approach that combines the power and computational efficiency of classification methods with the well-established predictive ability of Dynamic Bayesian Network. We demonstrate our method using the analysis of male young-onset hypertension microarray dataset. Four key genes were identified by the Least Angle Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and three Support Vector Machine Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE) methods. Results show that cell regulation FOXQ1 may inhibit the expression of focusyltransferase-6 (FUT6) and that ABCG1 ATP-binding cassette sub-family G may also play inhibitory role against NR2E3 nuclear receptor sub-family 2 and CGB2 Chromatin Gonadotrophin.