Deciphering the molecular basis of human cardiovascular disease through network biology

Abstract

This review introduces the fundamental concepts of network medicine and explores the feasibility and potential impact of network-based methods on predicting and ameliorating individual manifestations of human cardiovascular disease. Complex cardiovascular diseases rarely result from an abnormality in a single molecular effector, but, rather, nearly always are the net result of multiple pathobiological pathways that interact through an interconnected network. In the postgenomic era, a framework has emerged of the potential complexity of the interacting pathways that govern molecular actions in the human cell. As a result, network approaches have been developed to understand more comprehensively those interconnections that influence human disease. 'Network medicine' has already led to tangible discoveries of novel disease genes and pathways as well as improved mechanisms for rational drug development. As methodologies evolve, network medicine may better capture the complexity of human pathogenesis and, thus, re-define personalized disease classification and therapies.