| name | tooluniverse-kegg-disease-drug |
| description | KEGG-based disease-drug-variant network research. Connects diseases to causal genes, drugs to molecular targets, and variants to pathways using KEGG's editorially curated databases (KEGG Disease, Drug, Network, Variant, Pathway). Use for drug repurposing via shared pathways, mechanistic disease-gene-drug networks, and pathway-based target discovery. Distinguishes direct (binding) vs indirect (pathway co-membership) drug-target relationships. |
| triggers | [{"keywords":["KEGG disease","KEGG drug","KEGG network","KEGG variant","disease genes","drug targets"]},{"patterns":["KEGG .* disease","KEGG .* drug","disease.*drug.*variant","KEGG network"]}] |
KEGG Disease-Drug-Variant Research
Systematic exploration of disease-drug-variant relationships using KEGG's curated databases.
Reasoning Strategy
KEGG maps diseases to pathways and drugs to targets, but the real value is in the connections — which pathways link a disease gene to a drug target? This is a network question, not a simple lookup. A gene appearing in a KEGG disease entry has been editorially reviewed as mechanistically relevant; a drug entry with a confirmed target is more reliable than one inferred from pathway co-membership. When using KEGG for drug repurposing, always ask: is the drug-target relationship direct (the drug binds the gene product) or indirect (the drug affects a pathway that contains the gene)? Direct relationships are far stronger evidence. KEGG coverage is not exhaustive — absence from KEGG does not mean absence of biological involvement; complement with Reactome, WikiPathways, or CTD for broader coverage. ID namespace differences are a frequent source of errors: KEGG uses its own gene IDs (e.g., hsa:7157 for TP53), so always convert external IDs before querying KEGG-specific tools.
LOOK UP DON'T GUESS: Do not assume KEGG disease IDs, drug IDs, or gene IDs from memory — always search first with , , or . Do not assume which pathways link a disease gene to a drug; use and to retrieve the actual connections.
