GeneTerrain-GMM Unmasks a Coordinated Neuroinflammatory and Cell Death Network Perturbed by Dasatinib in a Human Neuronal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a systems-level disorder driven by the failure of interconnected biological networks, demanding therapeutic strategies and analytical frameworks that operate beyond single-target paradigms. The multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib is a promising therapeutic candidate due to its senolytic properties and ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. However, its precise systems-level impact on AD-relevant gene networks remains unresolved. Here, we employ the GeneTerrain-GMM (gt-GMM) framework, a novel method combining topological data analysis with unsupervised clustering, to dissect the mechanism of dasatinib in a human SH-SY5Y neuronal model. By analyzing high-throughput gene expression data from a curated network of 100 AD-implicated genes, we demonstrate that dasatinib, unlike an inert control, induces a profound, global reorganization of the gene expression landscape. This response is characterized by a smooth, highly coordinated topography, which gtGMM decomposes into a dominant, statistically robust functional module. Strikingly, this single module integrates canonical AD pathways with distinct signatures of neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and ferroptosis, a convergence that provides a powerful mechanistic fingerprint of the drug’s action. Our findings reveal that dasatinib’s effect is not diffuse but is focused on a critical connection linking protein misprocessing to inflammation and programmed cell death. This study provides a systems-level rationale for the therapeutic potential of dasatinib in AD and showcases the ability of topological data analysis to uncover the higher-order logic of complex drug-gene interactions.