Network-based drugs and biomarkers

Abstract

The structure and dynamics of protein signalling networks governs cell decision processes and the formation of tissue boundaries. Complex diseases such as cancer and diabetes are diseases of such networks. Therefore approaches that can give insight into how these networks change during disease progression are crucial for better understanding, detection and intervention. The era of network medicine has begun; however, there are fundamental principles associated with molecular networks that are essential to consider for this field to succeed. Here, we introduce network biology and some of its associated technologies. We then focus on the multivariate nature of cellular networks and how this has implications for biomarker and drug discovery using cancer metastasis as an example. Copyright © 2009 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.