Decosus

Decosus estimates cell-type composition from bulk gene expression profiles (bulk RNA-Seq) to assess cellular heterogeneity and abundance in tissues.

Key Features:

• Integration of multiple methods: Incorporates seven distinct methods and signatures to deconvolute cell types from gene expression profiles (GEPs).
• Benchmark performance: Demonstrated stable performance on datasets with ground-truth measurements and reported more reliable deconvolution than individual methods and signatures.
• Flexibility and customization: Allows incorporation of new gene signatures, algorithms, and integration methods at runtime.
• Bulk RNA-Seq input: Operates on gene expression profiles derived from bulk RNA-Seq datasets to estimate cell type proportions.

Scientific Applications:

• Immune compartment characterization: Applied to characterize immune compartments within skin samples across different conditions.
• Immune polarization in skin disease: Confirmed Th1 polarization in psoriasis and Th2 polarization in atopic dermatitis from bulk GEPs.
• Environmental impact on cellular composition: Identified UV-induced immune-related changes in sun-exposed skin.

Methodology:

Integrates multiple computational deconvolution methods and gene-signature approaches to estimate cell type proportions from bulk RNA-Seq by combining method- and signature-level results and permitting runtime addition of new signatures and algorithms.