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Differential Methods for Assessing Sensitivity in Biological Models

View ORCID ProfileRachel Mester, View ORCID ProfileAlfonso Landeros, Chris Rackauckas, Kenneth Lange
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.15.468697
Rachel Mester
1Departments of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
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Alfonso Landeros
1Departments of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
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Chris Rackauckas
4Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5Pumas-AI
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Kenneth Lange
1Departments of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
2Departments of Human Genetics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
3Departments of Statistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
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  • For correspondence: klange@ucla.edu
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Abstract

Differential sensitivity analysis is indispensable in fitting parameters, understanding uncertainty, and forecasting the results of both thought and lab experiments. Although there are many methods currently available for performing differential sensitivity analysis of biological models, it can be difficult to determine which method is best suited for a particular model. In this paper, we explain a variety of differential sensitivity methods and assess their value in some typical biological models. First, we explain the mathematical basis for three numerical methods: adjoint sensitivity analysis, complex-perturbation sensitivity analysis, and forward-mode sensitivity analysis. We then carry out four instructive case studies. (i) The CARRGO model for tumor-immune interaction highlights the additional information that differential sensitivity analysis provides beyond traditional naive sensitivity methods, (ii) the deterministic SIR model demonstrates the value of using second-order sensitivity in refining model predictions, (iii) the stochastic SIR model shows how differential sensitivity can be attacked in stochastic modeling, and (iv) a discrete birth-death-migration model illustrates how the complex-perturbation method of differential sensitivity can be generalized to a broader range of biological models. Finally, we compare the speed, accuracy, and ease of use of these methods. We find that forward-mode automatic differentiation has the quickest computation time, while the complex-perturbation method is the simplest to implement and the most generalizable.

Author Summary Over the past few decades, mathematical modeling has become an indispensable tool in the biologist’s toolbox. From deterministic to stochastic to statistical models, computational modeling is ubiquitous in almost every field of biology. Because model parameter estimates are often noisy or depend on poorly understood interactions, it is crucial to examine how both quantitative and qualitative predictions change as parameter estimates change, especially as the number of parameters increase. Sensitivity analysis is the process of understanding how a model’s behavior depends on parameter values. Sensitivity analysis simultaneously quantifies prediction certainty and clarifies the underlying biological mechanisms that drive computational models. While sensitivity analysis is universally recognized to be an important step in modeling, it is often unclear how to best leverage the available differential sensitivity methods. In this manuscript we explain and compare various differential sensitivity methods in the hope that best practices will be widely adopted. In particular, we stress the relative advantages of existing software and their limitations. We also present a new numerical technique for computing differential sensitivity.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted November 17, 2021.
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Differential Methods for Assessing Sensitivity in Biological Models
Rachel Mester, Alfonso Landeros, Chris Rackauckas, Kenneth Lange
bioRxiv 2021.11.15.468697; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.15.468697
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Differential Methods for Assessing Sensitivity in Biological Models
Rachel Mester, Alfonso Landeros, Chris Rackauckas, Kenneth Lange
bioRxiv 2021.11.15.468697; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.15.468697

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