Microarray classification with hierarchical data representation and novel feature selection criteria

Microarray data classification is a challenging problem due to the high number of variables compared to the small number of available samples. An effective methodology to output a precise and reliable classifier is proposed in this work as an improvement of the algorithm in [1]. It considers the sample scarcity problem and the lack of data structure typical of microarrays. Both problem are assessed by a two-step approach applying hierarchical clustering to create new features called metagenes and introducing a novel feature ranking criterion, inside the wrapper feature selection task. The classification ability has been evaluated on 4 publicly available datasets from Micro Array Quality Control study phase II (MAQC) classified by 7 different endpoints. The global results have showed how the proposed approach obtains better prediction accuracy than a wide variety of state of the art alternatives.