Drug Repurposing for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by Analyzing Networks Among Drugs, Diseases, and Genes.

BACKGROUND/

OBJECTIVES

Drug development for complex diseases such as NAFLD is often lengthy and expensive. Drug repurposing, the process of finding new therapeutic uses for existing drugs, presents a promising alternative to traditional approaches. This study aims to identify potential repurposed drugs for NAFLD by leveraging disease-disease relationships and drug-target data from the BioSNAP database.

METHODS

A bipartite network was constructed between drugs and their target genes, followed by the application of the BiClusO bi-clustering algorithm to identify high-density clusters. Clusters with significant associations with NAFLD risk genes were considered to predict potential drug candidates. Another set of candidates was determined based on disease similarity.

RESULTS

A novel ranking methodology was developed to evaluate and prioritize these candidates, supported by a comprehensive literature review of their effectiveness in NAFLD treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

This research demonstrates the potential of drug repurposing to accelerate the development of therapies for NAFLD, offering valuable insights into novel treatment strategies for complex diseases.