To facilitate the exploration and understanding of the relationship between three kinds of data in order to better identify patterns in cancer:
For each gene the correlation of its expression and the expression of its protein transcripts is calculated as one data type (GEXP <-> RPPA)
The correlation of the expression of each gene with mRNA is a second data type (GEPX <-> mRNA)
The correlation of the expression of each protein with mRNA is a third data type (mRNA <-> RPPA)
Two of the data dimensions are plotted along X and Y axis, while the third data type is portrayed via color scale.
Particular patterns (low correlation among some data types combined with high correlation among others) allow biologists to quickly prioritize candidates for further investigation. In the accompanying example, the data was derived from tumors of Glioblastoma (GBM) and Lower Grade Glioma (LGG).