Fig. 7

Network-based identification of miRNA-mediated pathobiological pathways between COPD and asthma. Networks illustrate the relevant miRNA sets between COPD and asthma. The overlapping area of the two sets represents the commonly overlapped miRNAs between COPD and asthma within the human protein–protein interactome network model. The subnetwork is identified by searching the meta-paths from the human protein–protein interactome network through the random walk of miRNAs between COPD and asthma. Four meta-path M1 (disease–miRNA–gene–gene–miRNA–disease) random walks between COPD and asthma validated by literature data are highlighted