Adaptive group-regularized logistic elastic net regression

TL;DR

This paper introduces 'gren', a novel group-regularized logistic elastic net method that incorporates external feature information to improve classification and feature selection in high-dimensional data, demonstrated through simulations and a cancer study.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new Bayesian group-regularized logistic elastic net method that effectively integrates external feature information for better modeling.

Findings

Enhanced classification performance when feature groups are informative.

Improved feature selection accuracy with the proposed method.

Validated effectiveness through simulations and a colon cancer microRNA study.

Abstract

In high-dimensional data settings, additional information on the features is often available. Examples of such external information in omics research are: (a) p-values from a previous study, (b) a summary of prior information, and (c) omics annotation. The inclusion of this information in the analysis may enhance classification performance and feature selection, but is not straightforward in the standard regression setting. As a solution to this problem, we propose a group-regularized (logistic) elastic net regression method, where each penalty parameter corresponds to a group of features based on the external information. The method, termed gren, makes use of the Bayesian formulation of logistic elastic net regression to estimate both the model and penalty parameters in an approximate empirical-variational Bayes framework. Simulations and an application to a colon cancer microRNA study show that, if the partitioning of the features is informative, classification performance and feature selection are indeed enhanced.