Fig. 1

Integrative network-based analysis. This overview figure highlights the different steps in the integrative network-based analysis used in this study. The goal is to integrate different omics data sets like mRNA and microRNA expression data (1). First, the mRNA expression data were analysed using biological pathways and significantly altered pathways were identified (2). The selected pathways were then merged into one network (3). In the next step, the network was extended with protein–protein and transcription factor–gene interactions with other differentially expressed genes that are not present in the pathways (4). The extended network was used to first identify active modules (5a), and then, it was extended with microRNA regulation, which allowed the integration of microRNA expression data (5b)