Virtual 'Google Map' of Human Metabolism Created: New Ways to Treat Disease

There's a new way to look at the human metabolism--a comprehensive computer "map" that could allow scientists to find biomarkers of metabolic diseases. Likened to Google maps by researchers, the tool could allow them to better understand and predict unwanted side effects that occur from drugs that treat cancers.

The new tool, called Retcon 2 and which is described in the journal Nature Biotechnology, builds and improves upon earlier-generation metabolic reconstruction systems. While other models have been created with the goal of reconstructing human metabolism, this one was constructed on a whole different scale. It added metabolic information from several databases, including information from the DrugBank database, which details the reactions caused by experimental and FDA-approved drugs to individual enzymes and reactions typical to the metabolic system. In addition, scientists involved mapped a total of 65 human cell types and more than 1,000 enzymes that are known drug targets.

So what does this "map" allow researchers to do exactly? It lets scientists better see how different factors relate to metabolism, and could give researchers another tool when it comes to developing novel drug treatments. Essentially, it merges complex details into a single, interactive map--rather like Google maps. A researcher can look at how metabolism sets the stage for cancer and receive detailed images of individual metabolic reactions or look at broad patterns and relationships.

"This is important because we are finally mapping the links between the human genome and metabolism," said Pedro Mendes, a computational systems biologist and one of the researchers, in a press release. "The results provide a framework that will lead to a better understanding of how an individual's lifestyle, such as diet, or a particular drug they may require, is likely to affect them according to their specific genetic characteristics."

With the new map, researchers should be able to deepen their understanding when it comes to human metabolism and see what role it plays when it comes to both health and disease.

"The model takes us an important step closer to personalized medicine, where treatments will be tailored according to the patient's genetic and metabolic information," said Mendes in a press release.