Decoding Gene-Disease Associations With Computational Methods: A Survey.

Abstract

Identifying gene-disease associations (GDAs) remains a fundamental challenge in biomedical research due to the enormous combinatorial space of candidate gene-disease pairs and the limited scalability of experimental validation. As wet-lab studies cannot keep pace with rapidly expanding omics data, computational approaches have become essential for prioritizing plausible GDAs and accelerating biological discovery. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly graph neural networks (GNNs) and large language models (LLMs), are transforming this field by enabling richer biological representations and more accurate predictive modeling. In this survey, we provide a unified and up-to-date overview of AI-driven GDA prediction. We first summarize major public resources containing gene, disease, and auxiliary biological information that underpin computational studies. We then review methodological developments ranging from traditional network-based methods to machine learning, deep learning, and the emerging integration of GNNs and LLMs, which has received limited attention in previous GDA-focused surveys. Representative applications in gene prioritization, drug repurposing, and clinical research are also discussed to demonstrate the practical impact of these approaches. Finally, we outline current challenges and promising future directions. By integrating data resources, methodological advances, and translational applications, this survey provides a comprehensive overview of modern AI techniques for GDA prediction and aims to support the development of more robust, interpretable, and clinically actionable computational tools.