Q-GDEMAR: a general method for the identification of differentially expressed genes in microarrays with unbalanced groups

Abstract

Microarray analysis is a powerful tool to simultaneously determine the pattern of transcription of large amounts of genes. For data post-processing distinct computational methods are currently used that, however, lead to different results regarding the genes expressed differentially. Herein, a new methodology for microarray data analysis named Q-GDEMAR is presented. It combines the quantile characterization of the entire distribution together with the Gaussian deconvolution of the central region of the microarray data distribution. Three discriminant variable variants are proposed that allow us to summarize data and compare groups even when their size is strongly unbalanced. In addition, a simple procedure to compute the false discovery rate (FDR) is also presented. The performance of the method is compared with that observed when using LIMMA (Linear Models Microarray) software as reference. In 58 out of 68 cases, Q-GDEMAR showed a higher sensitivity than LIMMA to detect differentially expressed genes (p = 1 × 10⁻¹⁰). The proposed method does not produce biased information, detecting genes with high sensitivity equally well at both tails of the distribution (p = 0.7428). Moreover, all detected genes were associated with very low levels of FDR (median value = 0.67%, interquartile range = 0.87%). Q-GDEMAR can be used as a general method for microarray analysis, but is particularly indicated when the conditions to be compared are unbalanced. The superior performance of Q-GEDEMAR is the consequence of its higher discriminative power and, the fact that it yields a univocal correspondence between the p-values and the values of the discriminating variable. Q-GDEMAR was tested only using Affymetrix microarrays. However, given that it operates after the step of data standardization, it can be used with the same quality features on any of the available mono- or dual-channel microarray platforms.