miRNApath

miRNApath performs pathway enrichment analysis for microRNA (miRNA) expression data by modeling many-to-many miRNA–gene interactions and preserving additive miRNA effects on gene regulation.

Key Features:

• Pathway Enrichment Techniques: Analyzes miRNA expression in the context of biological pathways by separately handling miRNA–target gene and gene–pathway relationships.
• Handling Complex Interactions: Models many-to-many interactions between miRNAs and genes, allowing multiple miRNAs to target single genes and individual miRNAs to target multiple genes.
• Additive Effects Preservation: Preserves the additive effects of multiple miRNAs on gene regulation to capture cumulative regulatory impact.

Scientific Applications:

• Neurodegenerative disease research (Alzheimer's disease, AD): Enables analysis of circulating miRNAs as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of AD-related molecular changes.
• Longitudinal studies in transgenic models (3xTg-AD): Supports evaluation of age-dependent evolution of miRNA levels and their pathway-level effects in models such as 3xTg-AD.

Methodology:

Two-step analysis that first assesses miRNA–gene (miRNA–target) interactions and then evaluates how those gene interactions map to gene–pathway relationships to derive pathway-level effects.