DISCUSSION
T1D
DISEASE PROGRESSION
In this paper, we introduced an integrative web cloud platform, MiSurv, for user-friendly step-by-step microbiome data analysis with survival responses. MiSurv performs extended data processing, analytic and graphical procedures to efficiently deal with microbiome data with survival responses. We described in detail a data processing module and its following four data analytic modules of MiSurv along with the example gut microbiome trial that involves a treatment (antibiotics) variable and survival responses on T1D onset.In the Data Processing module, we added the quality control to adjust the follow-up period because investigators often set up a very long period of follow-up at the stage of experimental design just to survey the disease progression sufficiently. Though, it is usually not the one intended in a later data analysis. Module 1 and Module 2 perform some basic exploratory data analysis, not involving microbiome and survival data, respectively, for comparative survival analysis between treatment groups and comparative analysis in microbial composition between treatment groups, respectively. On the contrary, Module 3 and 4 link the microbial composition to survival responses with respect to association testing and prediction modeling, respectively. At the beginning of Module 3 and 4, we added the subgroup analysis user option because it is often assumed that the effects of microbiome on survival responses are different between treatment groups, which indicates an interaction between microbiome and treatment, which in turn indicates the need for subgroup analysis. We believe that not all the facilities in MiSurv are just ours. Indeed, they are mostly based on other researchers’ methodologies; hence, we devoted to adding all related references to each of the data processing and analytic steps on our web platform.In summary, MiSurv is easy to use and provides comprehensive facilities for microbiome data processing and downstream data analysis with survival responses. MiSurv can serve as a useful tool in the rapidly growing field of human microbiome for numerous trials to study the treatment effects on survival responses, the treatment effects on human microbiome, and the roles of the microbiome on survival responses.