[BioC] gsea (gene set enrichment analysis) for ranked lists

[Asta Laiho]

Hi,

I have been using Broad Institute's GSEA tool for gene set enrichment analysis tool in analyzing preranked lists.  This allows me to perform statistical testing between the sample groups without coupling this directly to the enrichment analysis but rather to do these steps in a modular way. This also enables me to sort the genes according to my preferred logic and then analyze gene enrichment in a way that ignores the direction of the differential expression (up/down).  The drawback of the Broad GSEA implementation is that all the annotations used are human based. I have been trying to search for an alternative approach within R/Bioconductor but haven't been able to find one so far that would fully meet the following criterion:

- Allows one to test gene enrichment for preranked gene lists (works with ordered lists of gene symbols/identifiers rather that actual expression value matrixes and thus is not connected to a certain way of gene expression testing between sample groups)
- Is available for a number of organisms and gene set annotations (at least GO and KEGG)
- Allows one to ignore the direction of the regulation and concentrate on generally differentially expressed genes

If someone is aware of a tool that would meet all these criterion, I would be very happy to know. Otherwise this can be regarded as a wish for such a method to be implemented in R/Bioconductor environment.

Greetings,
Asta