DeCompress: tissue compartment deconvolution of targeted mRNA expression panels using compressed sensing

Targeted mRNA expression panels, measuring up to 800 genes, are used in academic and clinical settings due to low cost and high sensitivity for archived samples. Most samples assayed on targeted panels originate from bulk tissue comprised of many cell types, and cell-type heterogeneity confounds biological signals. Reference-free methods are used when cell-type-specific expression references are unavailable, but limited feature spaces render implementation challenging in targeted panels. Here, we presentDeCompress, a semi-reference-free deconvolution method for targeted panels.DeCompressleverages a reference RNA-seq or microarray dataset from similar tissue to expand the feature space of targeted panels using compressed sensing. Ensemble reference-free deconvolution is performed on this artificially expanded dataset to estimate cell-type proportions and gene signatures. In simulated mixtures, four public cell line mixtures, and a targeted panel (1199 samples; 406 genes) from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study,DeCompressrecapitulates cell-type proportions with less error than reference-free methods and finds biologically relevant compartments. We integrate compartment estimates intocis-eQTL mapping in breast cancer, identifying a tumor-specificcis-eQTL forCCR3(C-C Motif Chemokine Receptor 3) at a risk locus.DeCompressimproves upon reference-free methods without requiring expression profiles from pure cell populations, with applications in genomic analyses and clinical settings.