scSniper: Single-cell Deep Neural Network-based Identification of Prominent Biomarkers

Abstract

Discovering disease biomarkers at the single-cell level is crucial for advancing our understanding of diseases and improving diagnostic accuracy. However, current computational methods often have limitations, such as a reliance on prior knowledge, constraints to unimodal data, and the use of conventional statistical tests for feature selection. To address these issues, we introduce scSniper, a novel approach that employs a specialized deep neural network framework tailored for robust single-cell multiomic biomarker detection. A standout feature of scSniper is the mimetic attention block, enhancing alignment across multi-modal data types. Moreover, scSniper utilizes sensitivity analysis based on a deep neural network for feature selection and uncovers intricate gene regulatory networks without requiring prior knowledge. Comprehensive evaluations on real-world datasets, including COVID-19 CITE-Seq and LUAD scRNA-Seq, demonstrate scSnipers exceptional ability to identify critical biomarkers consistently outperforming traditional methods like MAST, Wilcox, and DESeq2. The scSniper tool and related experimental codes are publicly accessible at https://github.com/mcgilldinglab/scSniper.