International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article System, Method and Software for Calculation of a Cannabis Drug Efficiency Index for the Reduction of Inflammation Nicolas Borisov 1,† , Yaroslav Ilnytskyy 2,3,†, Boseon Byeon 2,3,4,†, Olga Kovalchuk 2,3 and Igor Kovalchuk 2,3,* 1 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 9 Institutsky lane, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region 141701, Russia;
[email protected] 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada;
[email protected] (Y.I.);
[email protected] (B.B.);
[email protected] (O.K.) 3 Pathway Rx., 16 Sandstone Rd. S., Lethbridge, AB T1K 7X8, Canada 4 Biomedical and Health Informatics, Computer Science Department, State University of New York, 2 S Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13202, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] † First three authors contributed equally to this research. Abstract: There are many varieties of Cannabis sativa that differ from each other by composition of cannabinoids, terpenes and other molecules. The medicinal properties of these cultivars are often very different, with some being more efficient than others. This report describes the development of a method and software for the analysis of the efficiency of various cannabis extracts to detect the anti-inflammatory properties of the various cannabis extracts. The method uses high-throughput gene expression profiling data but can potentially use other omics data as well. According to the signaling pathway topology, the gene expression profiles are convoluted into the signaling pathway activities using a signaling pathway impact analysis (SPIA) method. The method was tested by inducing inflammation in human 3D epithelial tissues, including intestine, oral and skin, and then exposing these tissues to various extracts and then performing transcriptome analysis.