Enhancing the Vietoris–Rips simplicial complex for topological data analysis: applications in cancer gene expression datasets

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to enhance the extraction of informative features from complex data through the application of topological data analysis (TDA) using novel topological overlapping measures. Topological data analysis has emerged as a promising methodology for extracting meaningful insights from complex datasets. Existing approaches in TDA often involve extrapolating data points using distance correlation measures, which subsequently constrain downstream predictive tasks. Our objective is to improve the construction of the Vietoris–Rips simplicial complex by introducing topological overlapping measures. These measures take into account the interplay of direct connection strengths and shared neighbours, leading to the identification of persistent topological features. We propose the utilisation of topological overlapping measures to optimise the construction of the Vietoris–Rips simplicial complex, offering a more refined representation of complex data structures. The application of topological overlapping measures results in the identification of plentiful persistent topological features. This enhancement contributes to an improvement of up to 20% in cancer phenotype prediction across different cancer types. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of utilising topological overlapping measures in optimising the construction of the Vietoris–Rips simplicial complex. The identified persistent topological features significantly enhance the predictive accuracy of cancer phenotypes. This novel approach has the potential to advance the field of topological data analysis and improve our understanding of complex data structures, particularly in the context of cancer research and predictive modelling. Further exploration and application of these measures may yield valuable insights in various domains dealing with intricate datasets.