This guide will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
In this guide you will learn:
- How to search for microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with a disease of interest
- How to find articles relating a specific miRNA with a disease or target of interest
- How to find validated targets for a miRNA of interest
Step 0: Login
Refer to https://med.causaly.com
TIP! In case you forgot your password, you can recover it here.
Search for microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with a disease of interest
To explore all microRNAs associated with a disease of interest, use the Intelligent Search in the Causaly home page (Figure 1).
Figure 1. The Intelligent Search on the Causaly homepage
Begin your search by typing miRNA and the name of a specific disease of interest, such as CLL, in the input box. Causaly will propose a search topic: microRNAs related to the disease of interest (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Select "microRNAs affecting CLL " from the suggested search topics.
By clicking on it, Causaly will initiate the search (link).
TIP! The system has automatically includes UMLS filters and keywords when looking for a specific query. For microRNAs, the relevant filter below the "Causaly Targets" category will be selected.
To validate this search, click on the "Open in Advanced Search" option, underneath the input box (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Select “Open in advanced search” to investigate how Causaly performed your query
TIP! Consider the free text box like Pubmed. Use keywords to refine your search or construct boolean queries using the AND, OR, NOT operators. For more information on how to use the text box, visit the “keyword search”.
Look for a specific miRNA related to a disease of interest
To look for specific miRNAs that have been related to a disease of interest, add the miRNA and the disease of interest on the Intelligent Search box. The example used below is for MIR15A and CLL ( link) (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Explore the relationship between MIR15A and CLL.
TIP! You can search for a miRNA that does not exist in the ontologies by using the free text option (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Refine your search by using the free text option when typing a concept of interest.
Look for targets related to a specific miRNA
To explore the potential targets of a miRNA of interest, add a miRNA on the Intelligent Search box, like MIR16-1, and select the search topic: genes and proteins affected by (link) (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Select the “Genes and proteins affected by the miRNA of interest” from Intelligent Search.
TIP! The system has automatically included both genes and proteins. To only review genetic targets, deselect the "Amino Acid, Peptide or Protein" option from the filters panel.
Results are displayed in an interactive dendrogram view. By clicking on a specific target gene, a side bar with the supporting evidence will come up.
Find validated targets for a miRNA of interest
To look for validated targets for a miRNA of interest, use the above search strategy to first search for all targets. Click on "open in advanced search" beneath the intelligent search bar. After opening this search in the advanced search, use the free text box to refine your results. Enter a specific assay of choice (e.g. luciferase) or a specific function (e.g. loss-of function, gain of function, silencing etc.) as a keyword and hit search. Luciferase will be used as an example (link) (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Refine your search by using the search term luciferase.
In this way the results will be based on studies where the different targets (genes) have been validated using luciferase reporter assays.
Want to learn more about how to find evidence in Causaly?
Find more information and examples on how to search posts by clicking here.