Postgraduate Institute of Medicine University of Colombo

Assessing Gene-Gene Interaction in Type 2
Diabetes Mellitus Using Centrality Measures
In almost all the multi factorial human disease-gene
associated databases, genes are ranked according to
the number of articles published in journals. Type II
Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a life threatening
condition. According to current knowledge predicted
genetic contribution to T2DM is about 24%.
Future genetic studies into T2DM can be facilitated by
scientifically predicting T2DM associated genes using
bioinformatics tools. One such method is the creation
of a gene-gene interaction map for T2DM. Analysis of
this map would enable researches to target their
research in the future at genes most likely to be involved in the aetiology of T2DM.
A new data base was created with the selected gene list for T2DM from the T2DGAD. This
list was curated with the HGNC (HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee) set of genes for
further accuracy. The result was entered to the STRING database to generate the interaction
map. The data on the interaction map was used in Cytoscape to create the centrality measures
by one of its core-plug-ins - „Network Analyzer‟.
The Principal Component Analysis method was applied for the result after standardization.
Then the genes were ranked according to the index generated by considering 6 centrality
measures. The interaction data were incorporated into the database for further studies. A
graphical user interface was developed to provide important information for the users who
are interested in further studies.
Dr. Saminda M. Dharmaratne
samindamadhu.lk@gmail.com
Supervisors:
Prof. Vajira H. W. Dissanayake
MBBS, PhD (Nottingham)
Chairperson, Specialty Board in Biomedical Informatics
Mr. Pubudu Samarakoon
BSc, MSc (Bioinformatics)
Member, Specialty Board in Biomedical Informatics
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