Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38047913›Full record

ArticleeLife2023

Avoiding false discoveries in single-cell RNA-seq by revisiting the first Alzheimer's disease dataset.

Alan E Murphy, Nurun Fancy, Nathan Skene

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.2field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Beta-Adrenergic Stimulation andbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Genetic risk in Alzheimer's disease.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. SpotSweeper: spatially-aware quality control for spatial transcriptomics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Alan E MurphyUK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-2487-8753
Nurun FancyUK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6481-6266
Nathan SkeneUK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
UK Dementia Research Institute · GB

Funding

Alzheimer's Disease Genetics ConsortiumU01AG032984 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI SCHELLENBERG, GERARD DAVID · 2009 to 2024
$60.4M
SUPPLEMENT TO RUSH ALZHEIMERS DISEASE CENTER COREP30AG010161 · NIA · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI LEURGANS, SUE E. · 1991 to 2020
$49.1M
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF NEURAL RESERVE AND NEUROBIOLOGY IN AGINGR01AG017917 · NIA · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI BENNETT, DAVID ALAN · 2001 to 2023
$43.3M
RISK FACTORS, PATHOLOGY, AND CLINICAL EXPRESSIONS OF ADR01AG015819 · NIA · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI BENNETT, DAVID ALAN · 1998 to 2024
$21.4M
Multi-omic network-directed proteoform discovery, dissection and functional validation to prioritize novel AD therapeutic targetsU01AG061356 · NIA · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI BENNETT, DAVID ALAN, DE JAGER, PHILIP L · 2018 to 2022
$13.7M
Pathway discovery, validation and compound identification for Alzheimer's disease - SupplementU01AG046152 · NIA · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI BENNETT, DAVID ALAN, DE JAGER, PHILIP L · 2013 to 2017
$13.6M
Discovery of Novel Proteomic Targets in Alzheimer's DiseaseU01AG046161 · NIA · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI BENNETT, DAVID ALAN, GESCHWIND, DANIEL H · 2014 to 2018
$8.4M
Genetic Epidemiology of Cognitive Decline in an Aging Population SampleR01AG030146 · NIA · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI EVANS, DENIS A · 2007 to 2018
$6.2M
Exploring the Role of the Brain Transcriptome in Cognitive DeclineR01AG036836 · NIA · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI DE JAGER, PHILIP L · 2011 to 2014
$2.9M
Medical Research Council MR/T04327X/1NIA NIH HHS P30 AG010161NIA NIH HHS R01 AG015819NIA NIH HHS R01 AG017917NIA NIH HHS R01 AG030146NIA NIH HHS R01 AG036836NIA NIH HHS U01 AG032984NIA NIH HHS U01 AG046152NIA NIH HHS U01 AG046161NIA NIH HHS U01 AG061356
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mathys et al. conducted the first single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) study of Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Mathys et al., 2019). With bulk RNA-seq, changes in gene expression across cell types can be lost, potentially masking the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across different cell types. Through the use of single-cell techniques, the authors benefitted from increased resolution with the potential to uncover cell type-specific DEGs in AD for the first time. However, there were limitations in both their data processing and quality control and their differential expression analysis. Here, we correct these issues and use best-practice approaches to snRNA-seq differential expression, resulting in 549 times fewer DEGs at a false discovery rate of 0.05. Thus, this study highlights the impact of quality control and differential analysis methods on the discovery of disease-associated genes and aims to refocus the AD research field away from spuriously identified genes.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseHumansQuality ControlRNA-SeqRNA, Small NuclearSingle-Cell Gene Expression AnalysisRNA, Small NuclearAlzheimer's diseasechromosomesgene expressionhumanneurosciencesingle-cellsingle-nucleus

Identifiers

PMID38047913
PMCPMC10695556
OpenAlexW4386368882

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.