[BioC] limma contrasts with multiple groups

[James MacDonald]

Hi Adi,

I think you will see the problem if you look at your contrasts matrix. In the second column you should have a 0.5 or a -0.5 for the samples you want to compare, but instead you will have a 1 or -1. You need to change the makeContrasts call to read like

Treat2=(a+b)/2-(c+d)/2

In order to get what you want - see the limma User's Guide for more info.

Best,

Jim




James W. MacDonald, M.S.
Biostatistician
Affymetrix and cDNA Microarray Core
University of Michigan Cancer Center
1500 E. Medical Center Drive
7410 CCGC
Ann Arbor MI 48109
734-647-5623
>>> "Tarca, Adi" <atarca at med.wayne.edu> 09/05/08 6:25 PM >>>

Hi all,

I am trying to reproduce the results I get with contrasts.fit function
in limma using simple math, but it does not work when the contrast is
made of more than two groups. Here is the code I am using. Any
suggestions are appreciated!

#a simple matrix with 2 genes, 4 groups and 2 samples per group
eset<-matrix(rnorm(16),2,8)
rownames(eset)<-c("g1","g2")
labs=rep(c("a","b","c","d"),each=2)
TS <- factor(labs)

design <- model.matrix(~0+TS)
colnames(design) <- levels(TS)
fit <- lmFit(eset, design)
cont.matrix <- makeContrasts(
 Treat1=a-b,
 Treat2=(a+b)-(c+d),
 levels=design)
fit2 <- contrasts.fit(fit, cont.matrix)
fit2 <- eBayes(fit2)


#check first contrast for first gene
aT1<-topTable(fit2,coef=1, number=60000, adjust="fdr")
aT1
#which I can get also as:
mean(eset[aT1$ID[1],labs=="a"])-mean(eset[aT1$ID[1],labs=="b"])


#check second contrast for first gene
aT1<-topTable(fit2,coef=2, number=60000, adjust="fdr")
aT1
#which I can NOT get like this 
mean(eset[aT1$ID[1],labs%in%c("a","b")])-mean(eset[aT1$ID[1],labs%in%c("
c","d")])

Thanks,
Adi

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