A5-BL-HNeck-TCGA-CORDA-R3D-Med-BL-CA-HT-LeakyFree-CandEnz-CABL-Wt-Rxn-21.gms is a set of candidate genes and reactions calculated by FBA03-TRCAModel-CandEnzRxn-CABL-Wt-Rxn. from Fuzzy optimization for identifying anti-cancer targets with few side effects in constraint-based models of head and neck cancer

Computer-aided methods can be used to screen potential candidate targets and to reduce the time and cost of drug development. In most of these methods, synthetic lethality is used as a therapeutic criterion to identify drug targets. However, these methods do not consider the side effects during the identification stage. This study developed a fuzzy multi-objective optimization for identifying anti-cancer targets that not only evaluated cancer cell mortality, but also minimized side effects due to treatment. We identified potential anti-cancer enzymes and antimetabolites for the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC). The identified one- and two-target enzymes were primarily involved in six major pathways, namely, purine and pyrimidine metabolism and the pentose phosphate pathway. Most of the identified targets can be regulated by approved drugs; thus, these drugs are potential candidates for drug repurposing as a treatment for HNC. Furthermore, we identified antimetabolites involved in pathways similar to those identified using a gene-centric approach. Moreover, HMGCR knockdown could not block the growth of HNC cells. However, the two-target combinations of UMPS, HMGCR) and (CAD, HMGCR) could achieve cell mortality and improve metabolic deviation grades over 22% without reducing the cell viability grade.