Cited by 1,930Gene expression and cancer classificationBioinformatics and Genomic NetworksSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomics

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 46 of the 46 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Capturing Heterogeneity in Gene Expression Studies by Surrogate Variable Analysis

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Leek, Jeffrey T, Storey, John D·2007·PLoS Genetics

Abstract

It has unambiguously been shown that genetic, environmental, demographic, and technical factors may have substantial effects on gene expression levels. In addition to the measured variable(s) of interest, there will tend to be sources of signal due to factors that are unknown, unmeasured, or too complicated to capture through simple models. We show that failing to incorporate these sources of heterogeneity into an analysis can have widespread and detrimental effects on the study. Not only can this reduce power or induce unwanted dependence across genes, but it can also introduce sources of spurious signal to many genes. This phenomenon is true even for well-designed, randomized studies. We introduce "surrogate variable analysis" (SVA) to overcome the problems caused by heterogeneity in expression studies. SVA can be applied in conjunction with standard analysis techniques to accurately capture the relationship between expression and any modeled variables of interest. We apply SVA to disease class, time course, and genetics of gene expression studies. We show that SVA increases the biological accuracy and reproducibility of analyses in genome-wide expression studies.

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  1. MardiaKVKentJTBibbyJM 1980 Multivariate analysis London Academic Press

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Metadata

Authors
Leek, J. T., & Storey, J. D.
Affiliations
University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Storey, John D
Venue
PLoS Genetics
Published
2007-09-28
Volume
3
Issue
9
Pages
e161
ISSN
  • 1553-7390 (ISSN-L)
  • 1553-7404
OpenAlex
W2137499573
Cited by
1,930
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 77 · 2025: 114 · 2024: 131 · 2023: 126 · 2022: 155 · 2021: 195 · 2020: 177 · 2019: 156 · 2018: 141 · 2017: 143 · 2016: 112 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 87 · 2013: 74 · 2012: 54
FWCI
8.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Genetics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG002913)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM062119, U54 GM2119)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gene expression and cancer classification
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
Keywords
surrogate variable analysis, gene expression heterogeneity, unmeasured confounding, time-course expression, reproducibility, statistical power
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Breast Neoplasms, Computer Simulation, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Female, Humans, Kidney, Genetic Linkage, Mutation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Time Factors, Reproducibility of Results, Gene Expression, Genome, Human, Linear Models, Genome, Fungal, Genetic Heterogeneity, Genes, BRCA1, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Genes, BRCA2, Epigenesis, Genetic

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