Individual cancers rely on distinct essential genes for their survival. The Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap) is an ongoing project to uncover gene dependency in hundreds of cancer cell lines. DepMap is a powerful drug discovery tool, but can be challenging to use without professional bioinformatics assistance. We combined CRISPR and shRNA screening data from DepMap and built a non-programmer-friendly browser (https://labsyspharm.shinyapps.io/depmap) that reports, for each gene, the growth reduction that can be expected on loss of a gene or inhibition of its action (efficacy) and the selectivity of this effect across cell lines. Cluster analysis revealed proteins that work together in pathways or complexes. This tool can be used to 1) predict the efficacy and selectivity of candidate drugs; 2) identify targets for highly selective drugs; 3) identify maximally sensitive cell lines for testing a drug; 4) target hop, i.e., navigate from an undruggable protein with the desired selectively profile, such as an activated oncogene, to more druggable targets with a similar profile; and 5) identify novel pathways needed for cancer cell growth and survival.
Keywords (up to 10):Cancer Dependency Map, precision medicine, essential genes, CRISPR, RNAi, synthetic lethality, ECHODOTS, cluster analysis, web tool, shiny to run the tool locally, but it will not be updated. In the following, the analysis workflow is explained ( Fig. 1B).
Efficacy-Selectivity (All genes)This service allows a user to explore efficacy and selectivity. The output is split into two panels. On the left, a scatterplot displaying efficacy and selectivity of all the genes is always shown (3, the number corresponds in Fig. 1B-C). By hovering over the points on the plot with the cursor, one can identify specific genes. When a partial or full gene name is provided in a text box in the input sidebar (1), genes that are partially matched to the query as well as their efficacy and selectivity are listed on the right panel, when the "Gene list" tab is selected (4). One of the listed genes is highlighted in pink.The points on the scatter plot corresponding to the listed genes are shown in orange with the highlighted gene on the list in red. When switching to the "Lineage" tab, perturbation scores of the highlighted gene in individual cell lines are shown, stratified by lineages (5). To view the scores of other genes on the Gene list, the user selects a different gene from the drop-down menu in the Input sidebar (2).Functional clusters (essential genes only) 2,492 genes were found essential in our analysis. We clustered perturbation profiles of the genes, as described in detail below. The output consists of three panels. On top left is the same essentiality vs selectivity plot of the essential genes (9). The bottom left plot shows the similarity of perturbation score profiles across genes (10). Adjacent points in the plot are expected to be functionally connected. When one essential gene is chosen from the top left drop-down menu (6), the cluster containing the query ge...