Selection of genes mediating certain cancers, using a neuro-fuzzy approach

In this article, we propose a methodology for selecting genes that may have a role in mediating a disease in general and certain cancers in particular. The methodology, first of all, groups an entire set of genes. Then the important group is determined using two neuro-fuzzy models. Finally, individual genes from the most important group are evaluated in terms of their importance in mediating a cancer, and important genes are selected. A method for multiplying existing data is also proposed to create a data rich environment in which neuro-fuzzy models are effective. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated using five microarray gene expression data sets dealing with human lung, colon, sarcoma, breast and leukemia. Moreover, we have made an extensive comparative analysis with 22 existing methods using biochemical pathways, p-value, t-test, F-test, sensitivity, expression profile plots, pi-GSEA, Fisher-score, KOGS, SPEC, W-test and BWS, for identifying biologically and statistically relevant gene sets. It has been found that the proposed methodology has been able to select genes that are more biologically significant in mediating certain cancers than those obtained by the others. & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.