Title: Developing a novel test to detect cancer genes from microarray data

Authors: Shreya Mathur; Sunil Mathur

Addresses: Division of Outreach and Continuing Education, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38655, USA ' Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA

Abstract: DNA microarray technology can simultaneously screen thousands of gene expression profiles, transforming how genetics is applied in medicine. However, the lack of normality in microarray data renders common statistical methods ineffective. We propose a novel statistical method which does not require stringent assumptions but is still more powerful than some of its competitors. Using both simulation studies and clinical data, we show that our novel method outperforms previous methods. The limiting distribution for the proposed test is obtained for under null and alternative hypotheses. The proposed test will help make cancer treatment and gene therapy more successful, and it may facilitate research regarding cancer vaccinations. The proposed test may also help in the development of a prediction model in genetic profiling studies built on a subset of differentially expressed genes and the clinical data to assess the accuracy of the clinical prediction.

Keywords: cancer testing; location; differentially expressed genes; type I error; cancer detection; cancer genes; DNA microarray data; gene expression data; bioinformatics; simulation; cancer treatment; gene therapy; genetic profiling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2014.065246

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2014 Vol.10 No.6, pp.628 - 646

Received: 23 Jul 2012
Accepted: 06 Mar 2013
Published online: 29 Apr 2015 *

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