Author: Bernardo P. de Almeida & Nuno Saraiva-Agostinho
Date: 2026-04-28

# cTRAP: identifying candidate causal perturbations from differential gene expression data

#### Bernardo P. de Almeida & Nuno Saraiva-Agostinho

#### 2026-04-28

# Introduction

`cTRAP` is an R package designed to compare differential gene expression results with those from known cellular perturbations (such as gene knockdown, overexpression or small molecules) derived from the Connectivity Map (CMap; Subramanian et al., Cell 2017). Such analyses allow not only to infer the molecular causes of the observed difference in gene expression but also to identify small molecules that could drive or revert specific transcriptomic alterations.

To illustrate the package functionalities, we will use an example based on a gene knockdown dataset from the ENCODE project for which there is available RNA-seq data. After performing differential expression analyses to the matched-control sample, we will compare the respective transcriptomic changes with the ones caused by all CMap’s gene knockdown perturbations to identify which ones have similar or inverse transcriptomic changes to the observed ones. As a positive control, we expect to find the knock-down of the gene depleted in the ENCODE experiment as one of the most similar transcriptomic perturbations.

# Getting started

To load the `cTRAP` package into your R environment type:

    library(cTRAP)

    ## Registered S3 method overwritten by 'quantmod':
    ##   method            from
    ##   as.zoo.data.frame zoo

# Load ENCODE RNA-seq data and perform differential gene expression analysis

In this example, we will use the EIF4G1 shRNA knockdown followed by RNA-seq experiment in HepG2 cell line from the ENCODE project as the dataset of interest. The RNA-seq processed data (gene quantifications from RSEM method) for the EIF4G1 knock-down and respective controls (two replicates each) can be automatically downloaded and loaded by typing:

    gene <- "EIF4G1"
    cellLine <- "HepG2"

    ENCODEmetadata <- downloadENCODEknockdownMetadata(cellLine, gene)
    table(ENCODEmetadata$`Experiment target`)
    length(unique(ENCODEmetadata$`Experiment target`))

    ENCODEsamples <- loadENCODEsamples(ENCODEmetadata)[[1]]
    counts <- prepareENCODEgeneExpression(ENCODEsamples)

Gene expression data (read counts) were quantile-normalized using `voom` and differential expression analysis was performed using the `limma` R package.

    # Remove low coverage (at least 10 counts shared across two samples)
    minReads   <- 10
    minSamples <- 2
    filter <- rowSums(counts[ , -c(1, 2)] >= minReads) >= minSamples
    counts <- counts[filter, ]

    # Convert ENSEMBL identifier to gene symbol
    counts$gene_id <- convertGeneIdentifiers(counts$gene_id)

    # Perform differential gene expression analysis
    diffExpr <- performDifferentialExpression(counts)

For our metric of differential expression after EIF4G1 shRNA knock-down, we will use the respective t-statistic.

    # Get t-statistics of differential expression with respective gene names
    # (expected input for downstream analyses)
    diffExprStat <- diffExpr$t
    names(diffExprStat) <- diffExpr$Gene_symbol

# Load CMap perturbation data

We will use our differential gene expression metric to compare with CMap’s gene knock-down perturbations in the same cell line (HepG2). Note that this comparison can also be done to perturbations in a different cell line (or in all cell lines using the average result across cell lines).

To summarise conditions and check available data in CMap, we can use the following commands to download CMap metadata:

    # Load CMap metadata (automatically downloaded if not found)
    cmapMetadata <- loadCMapData("cmapMetadata.txt", type="metadata")

    ## cmapMetadata.txt not found: downloading data...

    ## Extracting cmapMetadata.txt.gz...

    ## Loading CMap metadata from cmapMetadata.txt...

    # Summarise conditions for all CMap perturbations
    getCMapConditions(cmapMetadata)

    ## $perturbationType
    ## [1] "Compound"
    ## [2] "Peptides and other biological agents (e.g. cytokine)"
    ## [3] "shRNA for loss of function (LoF) of gene"
    ## [4] "Consensus signature from shRNAs targeting the same gene"
    ## [5] "cDNA for overexpression of wild-type gene"
    ## [6] "cDNA for overexpression of mutated gene"
    ##
    ## $cellLine
    ##  [1] "A375"     "A549"     "A673"     "AGS"      "ASC"      "BT20"
    ##  [7] "CD34"     "CL34"     "CORL23"   "COV644"   "DV90"     "EFO27"
    ## [13] "FIBRNPC"  "H1299"    "HA1E"     "HCC15"    "HCC515"   "HCT116"
    ## [19] "HEC108"   "HEK293T"  "HEKTE"    "HEPG2"    "HL60"     "HS27A"
    ## [25] "HS578T"   "HT115"    "HT29"     "HUH7"     "JHUEM2"   "JURKAT"
    ## [31] "LOVO"     "MCF10A"   "MCF7"     "MCH58"    "MDAMB231" "MDST8"
    ## [37] "NCIH1694" "NCIH1836" "NCIH2073" "NCIH508"  "NCIH596"  "NCIH716"
    ## [43] "NEU"      "NKDBA"    "NOMO1"    "NPC"      "OV7"      "PC3"
    ## [49] "PHH"      "PL21"     "RKO"      "RMGI"     "RMUGS"    "SHSY5Y"
    ## [55] "SKB"      "SKBR3"    "SKL"      "SKLU1"    "SKM1"     "SKMEL1"
    ## [61] "SKMEL28"  "SNGM"     "SNU1040"  "SNUC4"    "SNUC5"    "SW480"
    ## [67] "SW620"    "SW948"    "T3M10"    "THP1"     "TYKNU"    "U266"
    ## [73] "U2OS"     "U937"     "VCAP"     "WSUDLCL2"
    ##
    ## $dosage
    ##  [1] NA             "0.1 %"        "1 nM"         "10 nM"        "100 nM"
    ##  [6] "500 nM"       "0.04 µM"      "0.12 µM"      "0.37 µM"      "0.41 µM"
    ## [11] "1 µM"         "1.11 µM"      "1.23 µM"      "3 µM"         "3.33 µM"
    ## [16] "3.7 µM"       "5 µM"         "10 µM"        "11.11 µM"     "20 µM"
    ## [21] "30 µM"        "33.33 µM"     "40 µM"        "50 µM"        "60 µM"
    ## [26] "70 µM"        "80 µM"        "90 µM"        "100 µM"       "1 µL"
    ## [31] "1.5 µL"       "2 µL"         "3 µL"         "4 µL"         "5 µL"
    ## [36] "6 µL"         "10 µL"        "20 µL"        "150 ng"       "200 ng"
    ## [41] "300 ng"       "0.1 ng/µL"    "1 ng/µL"      "3 ng/µL"      "10 ng/µL"
    ## [46] "100 ng/µL"    "300 ng/µL"    "0 ng/mL"      "0.01 ng/mL"   "0.03 ng/mL"
    ## [51] "0.1 ng/mL"    "0.15 ng/mL"   "0.2 ng/mL"    "0.3 ng/mL"    "0.5 ng/mL"
    ## [56] "1 ng/mL"      "1.65 ng/mL"   "2 ng/mL"      "5 ng/mL"      "10 ng/mL"
    ## [61] "15 ng/mL"     "16 ng/mL"     "20 ng/mL"     "25 ng/mL"     "30 ng/mL"
    ## [66] "40 ng/mL"     "45 ng/mL"     "50 ng/mL"     "80 ng/mL"     "100 ng/mL"
    ## [71] "150 ng/mL"    "200 ng/mL"    "250 ng/mL"    "400 ng/mL"    "500 ng/mL"
    ## [76] "800 ng/mL"    "1000 ng/mL"   "2000 ng/mL"   "2500 ng/mL"   "3000 ng/mL"
    ## [81] "5000 ng/mL"   "8300 ng/mL"   "10000 ng/mL"  "50000 ng/mL"  "100000 ng/mL"
    ## [86] "200000 ng/mL"
    ##
    ## $timepoint
    ##  [1] "1 h"   "2 h"   "3 h"   "4 h"   "6 h"   "24 h"  "48 h"  "72 h"  "96 h"
    ## [10] "120 h" "144 h" "168 h"

    # Summarise conditions for CMap perturbations in HepG2 cell line
    getCMapConditions(cmapMetadata, cellLine="HepG2")

    ## $perturbationType
    ## [1] "Compound"
    ## [2] "Peptides and other biological agents (e.g. cytokine)"
    ## [3] "shRNA for loss of function (LoF) of gene"
    ## [4] "Consensus signature from shRNAs targeting the same gene"
    ## [5] "cDNA for overexpression of wild-type gene"
    ##
    ## $cellLine
    ## [1] "HEPG2"
    ##
    ## $dosage
    ##  [1] NA             "0.1 %"        "10 nM"        "100 nM"       "500 nM"
    ##  [6] "0.04 µM"      "0.12 µM"      "0.37 µM"      "0.41 µM"      "1 µM"
    ## [11] "1.11 µM"      "1.23 µM"      "3 µM"         "3.33 µM"      "3.7 µM"
    ## [16] "5 µM"         "10 µM"        "11.11 µM"     "20 µM"        "30 µM"
    ## [21] "33.33 µM"     "40 µM"        "50 µM"        "60 µM"        "70 µM"
    ## [26] "80 µM"        "90 µM"        "100 µM"       "1.5 µL"       "2 µL"
    ## [31] "0 ng/mL"      "0.01 ng/mL"   "0.03 ng/mL"   "0.1 ng/mL"    "0.15 ng/mL"
    ## [36] "0.2 ng/mL"    "0.3 ng/mL"    "0.5 ng/mL"    "1 ng/mL"      "1.65 ng/mL"
    ## [41] "2 ng/mL"      "5 ng/mL"      "10 ng/mL"     "15 ng/mL"     "16 ng/mL"
    ## [46] "20 ng/mL"     "25 ng/mL"     "30 ng/mL"     "40 ng/mL"     "45 ng/mL"
    ## [51] "50 ng/mL"     "80 ng/mL"     "100 ng/mL"    "150 ng/mL"    "200 ng/mL"
    ## [56] "250 ng/mL"    "400 ng/mL"    "500 ng/mL"    "800 ng/mL"    "1000 ng/mL"
    ## [61] "2000 ng/mL"   "2500 ng/mL"   "3000 ng/mL"   "5000 ng/mL"   "8300 ng/mL"
    ## [66] "10000 ng/mL"  "50000 ng/mL"  "100000 ng/mL" "200000 ng/mL"
    ##
    ## $timepoint
    ## [1] "2 h"  "4 h"  "6 h"  "24 h" "96 h"

    # Summarise conditions for a specific CMap perturbation in HepG2 cell line
    getCMapConditions(
        cmapMetadata, cellLine="HepG2",
        perturbationType="Consensus signature from shRNAs targeting the same gene")

    ## $perturbationType
    ## [1] "Consensus signature from shRNAs targeting the same gene"
    ##
    ## $cellLine
    ## [1] "HEPG2"
    ##
    ## $dosage
    ## [1] "1.5 µL"
    ##
    ## $timepoint
    ## [1] "96 h"

Now, we will filter the metadata to CMap gene knockdown perturbations in HepG2 and load associated gene information and differential gene expression data based on the given filename (the file is automatically downloaded if it does not exist).

Differential gene expression data for each CMap perturbation are available in normalised z-score values (read Subramanian et al., Cell 2017 for more details). As the file is big (around 20GB), a prompt will ask to confirm whether to download the file. If you prefer, you can also download the file yourself:

- Manually download the file from GSE92742_Broad_LINCS_Level5_COMPZ.MODZ_n473647x12328.gctx.gz
- Verify file integrity after download using the SHA-512 checksum
- Use the exact same filename for the `zscores` argument of `prepareCMapPerturbations()`)

    # Filter CMap gene knockdown HepG2 data to be loaded
    cmapMetadataKD <- filterCMapMetadata(
        cmapMetadata, cellLine="HepG2",
        perturbationType="Consensus signature from shRNAs targeting the same gene")

    # Load filtered data (data will be downloaded if not found)
    cmapPerturbationsKD <- prepareCMapPerturbations(
        metadata=cmapMetadataKD, zscores="cmapZscores.gctx",
        geneInfo="cmapGeneInfo.txt")

If interested in small molecules, the differential gene expression z-scores from CMap can be downloaded for each small molecule perturbation:

    # Filter CMap gene small molecule HepG2 data to be loaded
    cmapMetadataCompounds <- filterCMapMetadata(
        cmapMetadata, cellLine="HepG2", perturbationType="Compound")

    # Load filtered data (data will be downloaded if not found)
    cmapPerturbationsCompounds <- prepareCMapPerturbations(
        metadata=cmapMetadataCompounds, zscores="cmapZscores.gctx",
        geneInfo="cmapGeneInfo.txt", compoundInfo="cmapCompoundInfo.txt")

# Comparison with CMap perturbations

The `rankSimilarPerturbations` function compares the differential expression metric (the t-statistic, in this case) against the CMap perturbations’ z-scores using the available methods:

- Spearman’s correlation
- Pearson’s correlation
- Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), where the most up- and down-regulated n genes from the user’s differential expression profile are used as gene sets (by default, n = 150 genes)

To compare against CMap knockdown perturbations using all the previous methods:

    compareKD <- rankSimilarPerturbations(diffExprStat, cmapPerturbationsKD)

To compare against selected CMap small molecule perturbations:

    compareCompounds <- rankSimilarPerturbations(diffExprStat,
                                                 cmapPerturbationsCompounds)

The output table contains the results of the comparison with each perturbation tested, including the test statistics (Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and/or GSEA score), the respective p-value and the Benjamini-Hochberg-adjusted p-value (for correlation statistics only). When performing multiple methods, the rank product’s rank will be included to summarise other method’s rankings.

    # Most positively associated perturbations (note that EIF4G1 knockdown is the
    # 7th, 1st and 2nd most positively associated perturbation based on Spearman's
    # correlation, Pearson's correlation and GSEA, respectively)
    head(compareKD[order(spearman_rank)], n=10)

    ##                 gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                            <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ##  1:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MECP2:1.5     0.1930335    1.506067e-74    1.305258e-73
    ##  2: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5     0.1894301    8.237226e-72    5.354197e-71
    ##  3:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SQRDL:1.5     0.1883210    5.589838e-71    2.906716e-70
    ##  4:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:PPIH:1.5     0.1863954    1.509735e-69    6.542184e-69
    ##  5:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5     0.1833382    2.626628e-67    9.756048e-67
    ##  6:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:COPS5:1.5     0.1775880    3.364592e-63    1.093493e-62
    ##  7:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5     0.1770993    7.406639e-63    2.139696e-62
    ##  8:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5     0.1726479    8.816544e-60    2.292301e-59
    ##  9:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIF20A:1.5     0.1665159    1.114839e-55    2.415485e-55
    ## 10:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:TMEM5:1.5     0.1506335    8.936446e-46    1.452172e-45
    ##     pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue      GSEA spearman_rank
    ##            <num>          <num>          <num>     <num>         <num>
    ##  1:    0.1756788   7.245930e-62   1.883942e-61 0.3903862             1
    ##  2:    0.1847352   2.514633e-68   9.340065e-68 0.3521034             2
    ##  3:    0.1718559   3.046859e-59   6.093718e-59 0.3998024             3
    ##  4:    0.1703630   3.104268e-58   5.380731e-58 0.4359134             4
    ##  5:    0.1894661   7.739198e-72   4.024383e-71 0.3765351             5
    ##  6:    0.1794790   1.553956e-64   5.050356e-64 0.4222756             6
    ##  7:    0.1915142   2.182595e-73   1.418686e-72 0.4861485             7
    ##  8:    0.1858475   3.830708e-69   1.659973e-68 0.4219693             8
    ##  9:    0.1786967   5.568601e-64   1.608707e-63 0.4566918             9
    ## 10:    0.1670226   5.177976e-56   8.414211e-56 0.4721782            10
    ##     pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##            <num>     <num>            <num>
    ##  1:            7        12                2
    ##  2:            4        14                4
    ##  3:            9        11                8
    ##  4:           10         8                9
    ##  5:            2        13                5
    ##  6:            5         9                7
    ##  7:            1         2                1
    ##  8:            3        10                6
    ##  9:            6         7               10
    ## 10:           11         6               12

    head(compareKD[order(pearson_rank)])

    ##                gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                           <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5     0.1770993    7.406639e-63    2.139696e-62
    ## 2:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5     0.1833382    2.626628e-67    9.756048e-67
    ## 3:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5     0.1726479    8.816544e-60    2.292301e-59
    ## 4: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5     0.1894301    8.237226e-72    5.354197e-71
    ## 5:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:COPS5:1.5     0.1775880    3.364592e-63    1.093493e-62
    ## 6:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIF20A:1.5     0.1665159    1.114839e-55    2.415485e-55
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue      GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>     <num>         <num>
    ## 1:    0.1915142   2.182595e-73   1.418686e-72 0.4861485             7
    ## 2:    0.1894661   7.739198e-72   4.024383e-71 0.3765351             5
    ## 3:    0.1858475   3.830708e-69   1.659973e-68 0.4219693             8
    ## 4:    0.1847352   2.514633e-68   9.340065e-68 0.3521034             2
    ## 5:    0.1794790   1.553956e-64   5.050356e-64 0.4222756             6
    ## 6:    0.1786967   5.568601e-64   1.608707e-63 0.4566918             9
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:            1         2                1
    ## 2:            2        13                5
    ## 3:            3        10                6
    ## 4:            4        14                4
    ## 5:            5         9                7
    ## 6:            6         7               10

    head(compareKD[order(GSEA_rank)])

    ##              gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                         <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SKIV2L:1.5     0.1423207    5.305914e-41    8.114927e-41
    ## 2: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5     0.1770993    7.406639e-63    2.139696e-62
    ## 3: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:GTPBP8:1.5     0.1190220    4.210973e-29    4.760230e-29
    ## 4:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:HFE:1.5     0.1235293    3.098180e-31    3.661486e-31
    ## 5: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:UBAP2L:1.5     0.1309546    6.320554e-35    8.216721e-35
    ## 6:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:TMEM5:1.5     0.1506335    8.936446e-46    1.452172e-45
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue      GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>     <num>         <num>
    ## 1:    0.1755377   9.078490e-62   2.145825e-61 0.5070024            11
    ## 2:    0.1915142   2.182595e-73   1.418686e-72 0.4861485             7
    ## 3:    0.1390818   3.229116e-39   3.816228e-39 0.4813972            14
    ## 4:    0.1499527   2.252417e-45   2.788707e-45 0.4813046            13
    ## 5:    0.1517482   1.948821e-46   2.533468e-46 0.4722054            12
    ## 6:    0.1670226   5.177976e-56   8.414211e-56 0.4721782            10
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:            8         1                3
    ## 2:            1         2                1
    ## 3:           14         3               11
    ## 4:           13         4               13
    ## 5:           12         5               14
    ## 6:           11         6               12

    head(compareKD[order(rankProduct_rank)])

    ##                gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                           <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5     0.1770993    7.406639e-63    2.139696e-62
    ## 2:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MECP2:1.5     0.1930335    1.506067e-74    1.305258e-73
    ## 3:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SKIV2L:1.5     0.1423207    5.305914e-41    8.114927e-41
    ## 4: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5     0.1894301    8.237226e-72    5.354197e-71
    ## 5:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5     0.1833382    2.626628e-67    9.756048e-67
    ## 6:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5     0.1726479    8.816544e-60    2.292301e-59
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue      GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>     <num>         <num>
    ## 1:    0.1915142   2.182595e-73   1.418686e-72 0.4861485             7
    ## 2:    0.1756788   7.245930e-62   1.883942e-61 0.3903862             1
    ## 3:    0.1755377   9.078490e-62   2.145825e-61 0.5070024            11
    ## 4:    0.1847352   2.514633e-68   9.340065e-68 0.3521034             2
    ## 5:    0.1894661   7.739198e-72   4.024383e-71 0.3765351             5
    ## 6:    0.1858475   3.830708e-69   1.659973e-68 0.4219693             8
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:            1         2                1
    ## 2:            7        12                2
    ## 3:            8         1                3
    ## 4:            4        14                4
    ## 5:            2        13                5
    ## 6:            3        10                6

    # Most negatively associated perturbations
    head(compareKD[order(-spearman_rank)])

    ##              gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                         <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EYA1:1.5    -0.1993531    1.747554e-79    4.543641e-78
    ## 2:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:CDCA8:1.5    -0.1941862    1.951544e-75    2.537007e-74
    ## 3: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:NDUFB6:1.5    -0.1677880    1.618399e-56    3.825307e-56
    ## 4:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EHMT2:1.5    -0.1640525    4.479303e-54    8.958605e-54
    ## 5: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:ZBTB24:1.5    -0.1632375    1.500986e-53    2.787546e-53
    ## 6:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MAF:1.5    -0.1581847    2.351511e-50    4.075952e-50
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue       GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>      <num>         <num>
    ## 1:   -0.1952303   3.030978e-76   7.880542e-75 -0.3776731            26
    ## 2:   -0.1926944   2.740646e-74   2.375227e-73 -0.4739211            25
    ## 3:   -0.1646057   1.964288e-54   3.004205e-54  0.0000000            24
    ## 4:   -0.1590654   6.637816e-51   9.587957e-51 -0.3716818            23
    ## 5:   -0.1948077   6.448588e-76   8.383165e-75  0.0000000            22
    ## 6:   -0.1717844   3.406704e-59   6.326737e-59  0.0000000            21
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:           26        19               25
    ## 2:           24        26               26
    ## 3:           21        16               20
    ## 4:           20        18               21
    ## 5:           25        16               22
    ## 6:           22        16               19

    head(compareKD[order(-pearson_rank)])

    ##               gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                          <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EYA1:1.5    -0.1993531    1.747554e-79    4.543641e-78
    ## 2:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:ZBTB24:1.5    -0.1632375    1.500986e-53    2.787546e-53
    ## 3:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:CDCA8:1.5    -0.1941862    1.951544e-75    2.537007e-74
    ## 4: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SULT1A2:1.5    -0.1414914    1.533416e-40    2.214934e-40
    ## 5:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MAF:1.5    -0.1581847    2.351511e-50    4.075952e-50
    ## 6:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:NDUFB6:1.5    -0.1677880    1.618399e-56    3.825307e-56
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue       GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>      <num>         <num>
    ## 1:   -0.1952303   3.030978e-76   7.880542e-75 -0.3776731            26
    ## 2:   -0.1948077   6.448588e-76   8.383165e-75  0.0000000            22
    ## 3:   -0.1926944   2.740646e-74   2.375227e-73 -0.4739211            25
    ## 4:   -0.1742848   6.666242e-61   1.444352e-60 -0.4086520            20
    ## 5:   -0.1717844   3.406704e-59   6.326737e-59  0.0000000            21
    ## 6:   -0.1646057   1.964288e-54   3.004205e-54  0.0000000            24
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:           26        19               25
    ## 2:           25        16               22
    ## 3:           24        26               26
    ## 4:           23        20               24
    ## 5:           22        16               19
    ## 6:           21        16               20

    head(compareKD[order(-GSEA_rank)])

    ##             gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                        <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:CDCA8:1.5   -0.19418619    1.951544e-75    2.537007e-74
    ## 2: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:DHX16:1.5   -0.14109904    2.527811e-40    3.459110e-40
    ## 3: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SIAH2:1.5   -0.07825242    2.030400e-13    2.111616e-13
    ## 4: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:GNAI2:1.5   -0.05956052    2.293513e-08    2.293513e-08
    ## 5:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SHB:1.5   -0.11094246    1.768452e-25    1.915823e-25
    ## 6: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:PLOD2:1.5   -0.12393601    1.970762e-31    2.439991e-31
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue       GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>      <num>         <num>
    ## 1:  -0.19269443   2.740646e-74   2.375227e-73 -0.4739211            25
    ## 2:  -0.15642416   2.883756e-49   3.946193e-49 -0.4379221            19
    ## 3:  -0.11367900   1.119976e-26   1.164775e-26 -0.4224346            16
    ## 4:  -0.08923031   5.233713e-17   5.233713e-17 -0.4166373            15
    ## 5:  -0.12875045   8.300805e-34   8.992538e-34 -0.4131576            17
    ## 6:  -0.13259151   9.070613e-36   1.025374e-35 -0.4130739            18
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:           24        26               26
    ## 2:           19        25               23
    ## 3:           16        24               16
    ## 4:           15        23               15
    ## 5:           17        22               17
    ## 6:           18        21               18

    head(compareKD[order(-rankProduct_rank)])

    ##               gene_perturbation spearman_coef spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue
    ##                          <char>         <num>           <num>           <num>
    ## 1:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:CDCA8:1.5    -0.1941862    1.951544e-75    2.537007e-74
    ## 2:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EYA1:1.5    -0.1993531    1.747554e-79    4.543641e-78
    ## 3: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SULT1A2:1.5    -0.1414914    1.533416e-40    2.214934e-40
    ## 4:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:DHX16:1.5    -0.1410990    2.527811e-40    3.459110e-40
    ## 5:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:ZBTB24:1.5    -0.1632375    1.500986e-53    2.787546e-53
    ## 6:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EHMT2:1.5    -0.1640525    4.479303e-54    8.958605e-54
    ##    pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue       GSEA spearman_rank
    ##           <num>          <num>          <num>      <num>         <num>
    ## 1:   -0.1926944   2.740646e-74   2.375227e-73 -0.4739211            25
    ## 2:   -0.1952303   3.030978e-76   7.880542e-75 -0.3776731            26
    ## 3:   -0.1742848   6.666242e-61   1.444352e-60 -0.4086520            20
    ## 4:   -0.1564242   2.883756e-49   3.946193e-49 -0.4379221            19
    ## 5:   -0.1948077   6.448588e-76   8.383165e-75  0.0000000            22
    ## 6:   -0.1590654   6.637816e-51   9.587957e-51 -0.3716818            23
    ##    pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##           <num>     <num>            <num>
    ## 1:           24        26               26
    ## 2:           26        19               25
    ## 3:           23        20               24
    ## 4:           19        25               23
    ## 5:           25        16               22
    ## 6:           20        18               21

    # Plot list of compared pertubations
    plot(compareKD, "spearman", n=c(10, 3))

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    plot(compareKD, "pearson")

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    plot(compareKD, "gsea")

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    plot(compareKD, "rankProduct")

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

For small molecules:

    # Most positively and negatively associated perturbations
    compareCompounds[order(rankProduct_rank)]

    ##                              compound_perturbation spearman_coef
    ##                                             <char>         <num>
    ##  1:    CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-A14014306-001-01-1:4.1   0.225335666
    ##  2: CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K84595254-001-03-0:4.9444   0.085133810
    ##  3: CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K62810658-001-05-6:4.6768  -0.050201852
    ##  4:    CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K41172353-001-01-4:4.7   0.005161915
    ##  5: CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K60476892-001-02-1:4.1072  -0.077832390
    ##  6: CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K96188950-001-04-5:4.3967  -0.037174082
    ##  7:  CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K84389640-001-01-5:4.225  -0.078331814
    ##  8:  CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K77508012-001-01-9:6.025  -0.094208866
    ##  9:   CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K31030218-001-01-1:4.25  -0.125531451
    ## 10:    CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-K94818765-001-01-0:4.8  -0.113418048
    ## 11:   CVD001_HEPG2_24H:BRD-A65142661-034-01-8:5.35  -0.164686339
    ##     spearman_pvalue spearman_qvalue pearson_coef pearson_pvalue pearson_qvalue
    ##               <num>           <num>        <num>          <num>          <num>
    ##  1:   1.361508e-101   1.497659e-100   0.22640668  1.442316e-102  1.586548e-101
    ##  2:    1.294659e-15    2.373541e-15   0.06834399   1.415829e-10   2.224875e-10
    ##  3:    2.489663e-06    3.042921e-06  -0.02551843   1.673267e-02   1.840594e-02
    ##  4:    6.284641e-01    6.284641e-01  -0.01267514   2.347404e-01   2.347404e-01
    ##  5:    2.727173e-13    3.749863e-13  -0.06254059   4.400100e-09   6.050137e-09
    ##  6:    4.903648e-04    5.394013e-04  -0.04580625   1.737439e-05   2.123537e-05
    ##  7:    1.919930e-13    3.017033e-13  -0.08264025   8.485519e-15   1.555679e-14
    ##  8:    8.674931e-19    1.908485e-18  -0.08283071   7.364690e-15   1.555679e-14
    ##  9:    3.293334e-32    1.207556e-31  -0.12054061   8.215231e-30   3.012251e-29
    ## 10:    1.461350e-26    4.018714e-26  -0.11053910   2.640853e-25   7.262345e-25
    ## 11:    1.741438e-54    9.577908e-54  -0.14797060   3.242185e-44   1.783202e-43
    ##           GSEA spearman_rank pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank
    ##          <num>         <num>        <num>     <num>            <num>
    ##  1:  0.4932836             1            1       1.0                1
    ##  2:  0.2179143             2            2       3.0                2
    ##  3:  0.2304579             5            4       2.0                3
    ##  4:  0.0000000             3            3       5.5                4
    ##  5:  0.0000000             6            6       5.5                5
    ##  6: -0.2821337             4            5      10.0                6
    ##  7:  0.0000000             7            7       5.5                7
    ##  8: -0.2442628             8            8       8.0                8
    ##  9:  0.0000000            10           10       5.5                9
    ## 10: -0.2621164             9            9       9.0               10
    ## 11: -0.3381341            11           11      11.0               11

    plot(compareCompounds, "rankProduct")

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

> The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) score is based on the Weighted Connectivity Score (WTCS), a composite and bi-directional version of the weighted Kolmogorov-Smirnov enrichment statistic (ES) (Subramanian et al., Cell 2017).

> To calculate the GSEA score, GSEA is run for the most up- and down-regulated genes from the user’s differential expression profile. The GSEA score is the mean between EStop and ESbottom (however, if EStop and ESbottom have the same sign, the GSEA score is 0).

> If a perturbation has a similar differential expression profile to our data (higher GSEA score), we expect to see the most up-regulated (down-regulated) genes in the perturbation enriched in the top (bottom) n differentially expressed genes from our data.

# Information on perturbations

To get associated information as made available from CMap:

    # Information on the EIF4G1 knockdown perturbation
    EIF4G1knockdown <- grep("EIF4G1", compareKD[[1]], value=TRUE)
    print(compareKD, EIF4G1knockdown)

    ## $metadata
    ## Key: <sig_id, pert_id, pert_iname, pert_type, cell_id, pert_dose, pert_dose_unit, pert_idose, pert_time, pert_time_unit, pert_itime, distil_id>
    ##                         sig_id     pert_id pert_iname  pert_type cell_id
    ##                         <char>      <char>     <char>     <char>  <char>
    ## 1: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5 CGS001-1981     EIF4G1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##    pert_dose pert_dose_unit pert_idose pert_time pert_time_unit pert_itime
    ##        <num>         <char>     <char>     <int>         <char>     <char>
    ## 1:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##                                                                                                         distil_id
    ##                                                                                                            <char>
    ## 1: KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061769:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061770:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061772:-666

    # Information on the top 10 most similar compound perturbations (based on
    # Spearman's correlation)
    print(compareKD[order(rankProduct_rank)], 1:10)

    ## $metadata
    ## Key: <sig_id, pert_id, pert_iname, pert_type, cell_id, pert_dose, pert_dose_unit, pert_idose, pert_time, pert_time_unit, pert_itime, distil_id>
    ##                            sig_id      pert_id pert_iname  pert_type cell_id
    ##                            <char>       <char>     <char>     <char>  <char>
    ##  1:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:COPS5:1.5 CGS001-10987      COPS5 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  2:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5  CGS001-1981     EIF4G1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  3: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5  CGS001-9897   KIAA0196 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  4:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIF20A:1.5 CGS001-10112     KIF20A trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  5:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MECP2:1.5  CGS001-4204      MECP2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  6:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5  CGS001-4232       MEST trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  7:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:PPIH:1.5 CGS001-10465       PPIH trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  8:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SKIV2L:1.5  CGS001-6499     SKIV2L trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  9:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SQRDL:1.5 CGS001-58472      SQRDL trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 10:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5  CGS001-6772      STAT1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##     pert_dose pert_dose_unit pert_idose pert_time pert_time_unit pert_itime
    ##         <num>         <char>     <char>     <int>         <char>     <char>
    ##  1:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  2:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  3:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  4:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  5:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  6:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  7:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  8:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  9:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 10:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   distil_id
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      <char>
    ##  1:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019200:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019201:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019202:-666
    ##  2:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061769:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061770:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061772:-666
    ##  3:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000128018:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000129686:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000131227:-666
    ##  4:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116523:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116524:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116525:-666
    ##  5:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000021241:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000021242:-666
    ##  6:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075318:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075320:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075321:-666
    ##  7:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000049389:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000049390:-666
    ##  8:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051813:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051815:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051816:-666
    ##  9:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039004:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039005:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039007:-666
    ## 10: KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004267:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004267:-666

    # Get table with all information available (including ranks, metadata, compound
    # information, etc.)
    table <- as.table(compareKD)
    head(table)

    ##                gene_perturbation spearman_coef pearson_coef      GSEA
    ##                           <char>         <num>        <num>     <num>
    ## 1:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5     0.1770993    0.1915142 0.4861485
    ## 2:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MECP2:1.5     0.1930335    0.1756788 0.3903862
    ## 3:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SKIV2L:1.5     0.1423207    0.1755377 0.5070024
    ## 4: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5     0.1894301    0.1847352 0.3521034
    ## 5:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5     0.1833382    0.1894661 0.3765351
    ## 6:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5     0.1726479    0.1858475 0.4219693
    ##    spearman_rank pearson_rank GSEA_rank rankProduct_rank     pert_id pert_iname
    ##            <num>        <num>     <num>            <num>      <char>     <char>
    ## 1:             7            1         2                1 CGS001-1981     EIF4G1
    ## 2:             1            7        12                2 CGS001-4204      MECP2
    ## 3:            11            8         1                3 CGS001-6499     SKIV2L
    ## 4:             2            4        14                4 CGS001-9897   KIAA0196
    ## 5:             5            2        13                5 CGS001-6772      STAT1
    ## 6:             8            3        10                6 CGS001-4232       MEST
    ##     pert_type cell_id pert_idose pert_itime pr_gene_id
    ##        <char>  <char>     <char>     <char>      <int>
    ## 1: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       1981
    ## 2: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       4204
    ## 3: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       6499
    ## 4: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       9897
    ## 5: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       6772
    ## 6: trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2 1.5 microL       96 h       4232
    ##                                          pr_gene_title pr_is_lm pr_is_bing
    ##                                                 <char>    <int>      <int>
    ## 1: eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4 gamma, 1        1          1
    ## 2:                        methyl-CpG binding protein 2        0          1
    ## 3:                              Ski2 like RNA helicase        1          1
    ## 4:                                            KIAA0196        1          1
    ## 5:  signal transducer and activator of transcription 1        1          1
    ## 6:                        mesoderm specific transcript        1          1

    # Obtain available raw information from compared perturbations
    names(attributes(compareKD)) # Data available in compared perturbations

    ##  [1] "class"             "row.names"         ".internal.selfref"
    ##  [4] "metadata"          "geneInfo"          "input"
    ##  [7] "rankingInfo"       "geneset"           "runtime"
    ## [10] "names"

    attr(compareKD, "metadata")  # Perturbation metadata

    ## Key: <sig_id, pert_id, pert_iname, pert_type, cell_id, pert_dose, pert_dose_unit, pert_idose, pert_time, pert_time_unit, pert_itime, distil_id>
    ##                            sig_id      pert_id pert_iname  pert_type cell_id
    ##                            <char>       <char>     <char>     <char>  <char>
    ##  1:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:CDCA8:1.5 CGS001-55143      CDCA8 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  2:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:COPS5:1.5 CGS001-10987      COPS5 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  3:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:DHX16:1.5  CGS001-8449      DHX16 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  4:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EHMT2:1.5 CGS001-10919      EHMT2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  5:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EIF4G1:1.5  CGS001-1981     EIF4G1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  6:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:EYA1:1.5  CGS001-2138       EYA1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  7:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:GNAI2:1.5  CGS001-2771      GNAI2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  8:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:GTPBP8:1.5 CGS001-29083     GTPBP8 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##  9:      CGS001_HEPG2_96H:HFE:1.5  CGS001-3077        HFE trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 10: CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIAA0196:1.5  CGS001-9897   KIAA0196 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 11:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:KIF20A:1.5 CGS001-10112     KIF20A trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 12:      CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MAF:1.5  CGS001-4094        MAF trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 13:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MECP2:1.5  CGS001-4204      MECP2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 14:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:MEST:1.5  CGS001-4232       MEST trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 15:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:NDUFB6:1.5  CGS001-4712     NDUFB6 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 16:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:PLOD2:1.5  CGS001-5352      PLOD2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 17:     CGS001_HEPG2_96H:PPIH:1.5 CGS001-10465       PPIH trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 18:      CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SHB:1.5  CGS001-6461        SHB trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 19:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SIAH2:1.5  CGS001-6478      SIAH2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 20:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SKIV2L:1.5  CGS001-6499     SKIV2L trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 21:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SQRDL:1.5 CGS001-58472      SQRDL trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 22:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:STAT1:1.5  CGS001-6772      STAT1 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 23:  CGS001_HEPG2_96H:SULT1A2:1.5  CGS001-6799    SULT1A2 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 24:    CGS001_HEPG2_96H:TMEM5:1.5 CGS001-10329      TMEM5 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 25:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:UBAP2L:1.5  CGS001-9898     UBAP2L trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ## 26:   CGS001_HEPG2_96H:ZBTB24:1.5  CGS001-9841     ZBTB24 trt_sh.cgs   HEPG2
    ##                            sig_id      pert_id pert_iname  pert_type cell_id
    ##                            <char>       <char>     <char>     <char>  <char>
    ##     pert_dose pert_dose_unit pert_idose pert_time pert_time_unit pert_itime
    ##         <num>         <char>     <char>     <int>         <char>     <char>
    ##  1:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  2:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  3:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  4:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  5:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  6:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  7:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  8:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##  9:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 10:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 11:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 12:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 13:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 14:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 15:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 16:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 17:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 18:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 19:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 20:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 21:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 22:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 23:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 24:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 25:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ## 26:       1.5         microL 1.5 microL        96              h       96 h
    ##     pert_dose pert_dose_unit pert_idose pert_time pert_time_unit pert_itime
    ##         <num>         <char>     <char>     <int>         <char>     <char>
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   distil_id
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      <char>
    ##  1:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007898:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007899:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007900:-666
    ##  2:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019200:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019201:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000019202:-666
    ##  3:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000001123:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000001124:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000001125:-666
    ##  4:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA002_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000115667:-666|KDA002_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000115669:-666|KDA002_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000115671:-666
    ##  5:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061769:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061770:-666|KDA004_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000061772:-666
    ##  6:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDC008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000083443:-666|KDC008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000083446:-666|KDC008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000303461:-666
    ##  7:                                                                           KDA006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000029514:-666|KDB003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000029514:-666|KDA006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000029517:-666|KDB003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000029517:-666|KDA006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000278333:-666|KDB003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000029518:-666
    ##  8:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000343725:-666|KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000343727:-666|KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000343728:-666
    ##  9:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000060018:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000060019:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000060022:-666
    ## 10:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000128018:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000129686:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000131227:-666
    ## 11:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116523:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116524:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000116525:-666
    ## 12:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDC001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000000254:-666|KDC001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000000256:-666|KDC001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000000258:-666
    ## 13:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000021241:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000021242:-666
    ## 14:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075318:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075320:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000075321:-666
    ## 15:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000028409:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000028417:-666|KDB010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000028428:-666
    ## 16:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDC010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000064808:-666|KDC010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000064809:-666|KDC010_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000064810:-666
    ## 17:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000049389:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000049390:-666
    ## 18:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000149080:-666|KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000282026:-666|KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000285376:-666
    ## 19:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007415:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007416:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007418:-666
    ## 20:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051813:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051815:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000051816:-666
    ## 21:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039004:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039005:-666|KDB009_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000039007:-666
    ## 22: KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004265:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDD006_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004266:-666|KDA005_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004267:-666|KDB007_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000004267:-666
    ## 23:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000035200:-666|KDA001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000035202:-666|KDA001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000035203:-666
    ## 24:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000135504:-666|KDB001_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000278433:-666
    ## 25:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007677:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007680:-666|KDA003_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000007681:-666
    ## 26:                                                                                                                                                                                          KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000107435:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000107437:-666|KDB008_HEPG2_96H:TRCN0000107438:-666
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   distil_id
    ##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      <char>

    attr(compareKD, "geneInfo")  # Gene information

    ##        pr_gene_id pr_gene_symbol
    ##             <int>         <char>
    ##     1:        780           DDR1
    ##     2:       7849           PAX8
    ##     3:       2978         GUCA1A
    ##     4:       2049          EPHB3
    ##     5:       2101          ESRRA
    ##    ---
    ## 12324:       4034          LRCH4
    ## 12325:     399664          MEX3D
    ## 12326:      54869         EPS8L1
    ## 12327:      90379         DCAF15
    ## 12328:         60           ACTB
    ##                                                              pr_gene_title
    ##                                                                     <char>
    ##     1:                         discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 1
    ##     2:                                                        paired box 8
    ##     3:                                      guanylate cyclase activator 1A
    ##     4:                                                     EPH receptor B3
    ##     5:                                     estrogen related receptor alpha
    ##    ---
    ## 12324: leucine-rich repeats and calponin homology (CH) domain containing 4
    ## 12325:                                   mex-3 RNA binding family member D
    ## 12326:                                                         EPS8 like 1
    ## 12327:                                  DDB1 and CUL4 associated factor 15
    ## 12328:                                                         actin, beta
    ##        pr_is_lm pr_is_bing
    ##           <int>      <int>
    ##     1:        1          1
    ##     2:        1          1
    ##     3:        0          0
    ##     4:        0          1
    ##     5:        0          1
    ##    ---
    ## 12324:        0          1
    ## 12325:        0          1
    ## 12326:        0          1
    ## 12327:        0          1
    ## 12328:        0          1

# Relationship plots

To analyse the relationship between the user-provided differential expression profile with that associated with a specific perturbation, scatter plots (for Spearman and Pearson analyses) and GSEA plots are available.

For instance, let’s plot the relationship between EIF4G1 shRNA knockdown from ENCODE with the CMap knockdown perturbations:

    # Plot relationship with EIF4G1 knockdown from CMap
    plot(compareKD, EIF4G1knockdown, "spearman")

    plot(compareKD, EIF4G1knockdown, "pearson")

    plot(compareKD, EIF4G1knockdown, "gsea")

    # Plot relationship with most negatively associated perturbation
    plot(compareKD, compareKD[order(-spearman_rank)][1, 1], "spearman")

    plot(compareKD, compareKD[order(-pearson_rank)][1, 1], "pearson")

    plot(compareKD, compareKD[order(-GSEA_rank)][1, 1], "gsea")

For small molecules:

    # Plot relationship with most positively associated perturbation
    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(spearman_rank)][1, 1], "spearman")

    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(pearson_rank)][1, 1], "pearson")

    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(GSEA_rank)][1, 1], "gsea")

    # Plot relationship with most negatively associated perturbation
    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(-spearman_rank)][1,1], "spearman")

    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(-pearson_rank)][1, 1], "pearson")

    plot(compareCompounds, compareCompounds[order(-GSEA_rank)][1, 1], "gsea")

# Predict targeting drugs

Compounds that target the phenotypes associated with the user-provided differential expression profile can be inferred by comparing against gene expression and drug sensitivity associations. The gene expression and drug sensitivity datasets derived from the following sources were correlated using Spearman’s correlation across the available cell lines.

Source | Screened compounds | Human cancer cell lines
--- | --- | ---
NCI60 | > 100 000 | 60
GDSC 7 | 481 | 860
CTRP 2.1 | 138 | ~700

To use an expression and drug sensitivity association based on `CTRP 2.1` (`GDSC 7` and `NCI60` could be used instead) to infer targeting drugs for the user’s differential expression profile:

    listExpressionDrugSensitivityAssociation()

    ## [1] "GDSC 7"   "CTRP 2.1" "NCI60"

    ctrp      <- listExpressionDrugSensitivityAssociation()[[2]]
    assoc     <- loadExpressionDrugSensitivityAssociation(ctrp)

    ## expressionDrugSensitivityCorCTRP2.1.qs2 not found: downloading data...

    ## Loading data from expressionDrugSensitivityCorCTRP2.1.qs2...

    predicted <- predictTargetingDrugs(diffExprStat, assoc)

    ## Subsetting data based on 11227 intersecting genes (83% of the 13451 input genes)...

    ## Comparing against 545 CTRP 2.1 compounds (823 cell lines) using 'spearman, pearson, gsea' (gene size of 150)...

    ## Comparison performed in 3.36 secs

    plot(predicted, method="rankProduct")

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.
    ## No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    # Plot results for a given drug
    plot(predicted, predicted[[1, 1]], method="spearman")

    ## Loading data from /private/var/folders/r0/l4fjk6cj5xj0j3brt4bplpl40000gt/T/RtmpYEMIlk/Rbuildb2851024440f/cTRAP/vignettes/expressionDrugSensitivityCorCTRP2.1.qs2...

    plot(predicted, predicted[[1, 1]], method="gsea")

    ## Loading data from /private/var/folders/r0/l4fjk6cj5xj0j3brt4bplpl40000gt/T/RtmpYEMIlk/Rbuildb2851024440f/cTRAP/vignettes/expressionDrugSensitivityCorCTRP2.1.qs2...

> Compounds are ranked by their relative targeting potential based on the input differential expression profile (i.e. the 1st-ranked compound has higher targeting potential than the 2nd-ranked one).

Candidate targeting drugs can be plotted against the similarity ranking of their perturbations towards the user’s differential expression profile. Note that the highlighted values are the same compounds for the following plots annotated with their name, gene target and mechanism of action (MOA), respectively.

    # Label by compound name
    plotTargetingDrugsVSsimilarPerturbations(
      predicted, compareCompounds, column="spearman_rank")

    ## Columns 'broad id' and 'pubchem_cid' were matched based on 0 common values; to manually select columns to compare, please set arguments starting with 'keyCol'

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    # Label by compound's gene target
    plotTargetingDrugsVSsimilarPerturbations(
      predicted, compareCompounds, column="spearman_rank", labelBy="target")

    ## Columns 'broad id' and 'pubchem_cid' were matched based on 0 common values; to manually select columns to compare, please set arguments starting with 'keyCol'

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

    # Label by compound's mechanism of action (MOA)
    plotTargetingDrugsVSsimilarPerturbations(
      predicted, compareCompounds, column="spearman_rank", labelBy="moa")

    ## Columns 'broad id' and 'pubchem_cid' were matched based on 0 common values; to manually select columns to compare, please set arguments starting with 'keyCol'

    ## Warning: No shared levels found between `names(values)` of the manual scale and the
    ## data's colour values.

# Molecular descriptor enrichment analysis

Next, from our candidate targeting drugs, we will analyse the enrichment of 2D and 3D molecular descriptors based on CMap and NCI60 compounds. This allows to check if targeting drugs are particularly enriched in specific drug descriptors and may be useful to think about the relevance of these descriptors for targeting a phenotype of interest.

    descriptors <- loadDrugDescriptors("CMap", "2D")

    ## compound_descriptors_CMap_2D.qs2 not found: downloading data...

    drugSets    <- prepareDrugSets(descriptors)
    dsea        <- analyseDrugSetEnrichment(drugSets, predicted)

    ## Matching compounds with those available in drug sets...

    ## Ordering results by column 'rankProduct_rank'; to manually select column to order by, please set argument 'col'

    ## Columns 'broad id' and 'pert_id' were matched based on 283 common values; to manually select columns to compare, please set arguments starting with 'keyCol'

    ## Performing enrichment analysis...

    # Plot the 6 most significant drug set enrichment results
    plotDrugSetEnrichment(drugSets, predicted,
                          selectedSets=head(dsea$descriptor, 6))

    ## Matching compounds with those available in drug sets...

    ## Columns 'broad id' and 'pert_id' were matched based on 283 common values; to manually select columns to compare, please set arguments starting with 'keyCol'

    ## Plotting enrichment analysis...

    ## $`Total.Molweight: [391, 411]`

    ##
    ## $`Total Molweight: [391, 411]`

    ##
    ## $`Total Surface Area: [293, 307]`

    ##
    ## $`Rotatable Bonds: 5`

    ##
    ## $`Polar.Surface.Area: [138, 1153]`

    ##
    ## $`cLogP: 0`

# Contact information

All feedback on the program, documentation and associated material (including this tutorial) is welcome. Please send any suggestions and comments to:

> Nuno Saraiva-Agostinho (nunoagostinho@medicina.ulisboa.pt)

> Bernardo P. de Almeida (bernardo.almeida94@gmail.com)

> Disease Transcriptomics Lab, Instituto de Medicina Molecular (Portugal)