massiveGenesetsTest: a web tool to run enrichment analysis.

MotivationInferring biological phenotypes from genomic data and sample clusters is a routinely task usually performed with Gene-Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), a tool that queries gene-profiles. In previous work, we scrutinized the approach based on Mann-Witney for Gene-Sets test. We highlighted the Mann-Witney test-statistics sensitivity to uncover weak signals and the drastic decreasing of time complexity. ResultsWe propose web implementation of the Gene-sets testing based on the Mann-Witney procedure. The test-procedure has reshaped to decrease the computational expense, now about tens of seconds, even if a large collection of gene-sets queries the same gene-profile. The probabilistic interpretation of the normalized test-statistic has been investigated to a better understanding of the enrichment results. A novel prioritization method across enrichment-scores, gene-set dimensions, and p-values, draws attention to relevant gene-sets. The web tool provides both tabular and graphical enrichment results. A complimentary R function allows integrating the enrichment procedure in a complex context. Contactpagnotta@unisannio.it Supplementary informationExample data and guidelines are included in the supporting material of the web-site.