IUSMMT: Survival mediation analysis of gene expression with multiple DNA methylation exposures and its application to cancers of TCGA
Fig 1
Statistical framework of the survival mediation analysis with multiple exposures, one mediator and one censored outcome.
The mediation analysis involves in multiple DNA methylations (M) as exposures, one gene expression (G) as the mediator and one survival time as the outcome (T). There are two types of effects from M to T: the direct effect of M on T (i.e., γDE) and the indirect effect of M on T via the intermediate variable G. The indirect effect represents the amount of mediation coming from two sources: the effect from M to G (i.e., α) and the effect from G to T (i.e., β).