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This article belongs to the Special Issue Targeting Signal Transduction Pathways and Non-coding RNAs as Potential Therapy in Cancer and Aging. ; Despite the existence of differences in gene expression across numerous genes between males and females having been known for a long time, these have been mostly ignored in many studies, including drug development and its therapeutic use. In fact, the consequences of such differences over the disease mechanisms or the drug action mechanisms are completely unknown. Here we applied mechanistic mathematical models of signaling activity to reveal the ultimate functional consequences that gender-specific gene expression activities have over cell functionality and fate. Moreover, we also used the mechanistic modeling framework to simulate the drug interventions and unravel how drug action mechanisms are affected by gender-specific differential gene expression. Interestingly, some cancers have many biological processes significantly affected by these gender-specific differences (e.g., bladder or head and neck carcinomas), while others (e.g., glioblastoma or rectum cancer) are almost insensitive to them. We found that many of these gender-specific differences affect cancer-specific pathways or in physiological signaling pathways, also involved in cancer origin and development. Finally, mechanistic models have the potential to be used for finding alternative therapeutic interventions on the pathways targeted by the drug, which lead to similar results compensating the downstream consequences of gender-specific differences in gene expression. ; This work is supported by grants SAF2017-88908-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and "Plataforma de Recursos Biomoleculares y Bioinformáticos" PT17/0009/0006 from the ISCIII, both co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) as well as H2020 Programme of the European Union grants Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine" (MLFPM) (GA 813533) and "ELIXIR-EXCELERATE fast-track ELIXIR implementation and drive early user exploitation across the life sciences" (GA 676559).

This work is supported by grants SAF2017-88908-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, PT17/0009/0006, ACCI2018/29 from CIBER-ISCIII and COV20/00788 from the ISCIII, co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the grant "Large-scale drug repurposing in rare diseases by genomic Big Data analysis with machine learning methods" from the Fundación BBVA (G999088Q), as well as H2020 Programme of the European Union grants Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine" (MLFPM) (GA 813533). ; Yes

This study aimed to identify the underlying molecular genetic cause in four Spanish families clinically diagnosed of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), comprising one autosomal dominant RP (adRP), two autosomal recessive RP (arRP) and one with two possible modes of inheritance: arRP or X-Linked RP (XLRP). We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) using NimbleGen SeqCap EZ Exome V3 sample preparation kit and SOLID 5500xl platform. All variants passing filter criteria were validated by Sanger sequencing to confirm familial segregation and the absence in local control population. This strategy allowed the detection of: (i) one novel heterozygous splice-site deletion in RHO, c.937-2_944del, (ii) one rare homozygous mutation in C2orf71, c.1795T.C; p.Cys599Arg, not previously associated with the disease, (iii) two heterozygous null mutations in ABCA4, c.2041C.T; p.R681* and c.6088C.T; p.R2030*, and (iv) one mutation, c.2405- 2406delAG; p.Glu802Glyfs*31 in the ORF15 of RPGR. The molecular findings for RHO and C2orf71 confirmed the initial diagnosis of adRP and arRP, respectively, while patients with the two ABCA4 mutations, both previously associated with Stargardt disease, presented symptoms of RP with early macular involvement. Finally, the X-Linked inheritance was confirmed for the family with the RPGR mutation. This latter finding allowed the inclusion of carrier sisters in our preimplantational genetic diagnosis program. ; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) ; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PI1102923, CIBERER ACCI, CDTIFEDER-Innterconecta EXP00052887/ITC-20111037, and BIO2011- 27069) ; Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia (CTS-03687) ; Foundation Ramon Areces (CIVP16A1856) ; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness ; FI12/00545 from ISCIII

Here we present a web interface that implements a comprehensive mechanistic model of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map. In this framework, the detailed activity of the human signaling circuits related to the viral infection, covering from the entry and replication mechanisms to the downstream consequences as inflammation and antigenic response, can be inferred from gene expression experiments. Moreover, the effect of potential interventions, such as knock-downs, or drug effects (currently the system models the effect of more than 8000 DrugBank drugs) can be studied. This freely available tool not only provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the mechanisms of viral invasion and the consequences in the cell but has also the potential of becoming an invaluable asset in the search for efficient antiviral treatments. ; This work is supported by grants SAF2017–88908-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, PT17/0009/0006, ACCI2018/29 from CIBER-ISCIII and COV20/00788 from the ISCIII, co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the grant "Large-scale drug repurposing in rare diseases by genomic Big Data analysis with machine learning methods" from the Fundación BBVA (G999088Q), as well as H2020 Programme of the European Union grants Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine" (MLFPM) (GA 813533).

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has overcome important limitations to the molecular diagnosis of Inherited Retinal Dystrophies (IRD) such as the high clinical and genetic heterogeneity and the overlapping phenotypes. The purpose of this study was the identification of the genetic defect in 32 Spanish families with different forms of IRD. With that aim, we implemented a custom NGS panel comprising 64 IRD-associated genes in our population, and three disease-associated intronic regions. A total of 37 pathogenic mutations (14 novels) were found in 73% of IRD patients ranging from 50% for autosomal dominant cases, 75% for syndromic cases, 83% for autosomal recessive cases, and 100% for X-linked cases. Additionally, unexpected phenotype-genotype correlations were found in 6 probands, which led to the refinement of their clinical diagnoses. Furthermore, intra- and interfamilial phenotypic variability was observed in two cases. Moreover, two cases unsuccessfully analysed by exome sequencing were resolved by applying this panel. Our results demonstrate that this hypothesis-free approach based on frequently mutated, population-specific loci is highly cost-efficient for the routine diagnosis of this heterogeneous condition and allows the unbiased analysis of a miscellaneous cohort. The molecular information found here has aid clinical diagnosis and has improved genetic counselling and patient management. ; This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain (PI11-02923), CIBERER ACCI, CDTI FEDER-Innterconecta (EXP00052887/ITC-20111037), Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia (CTS-1664) and the Foundation Ramon Areces (CIVP16A1856). The CIBERER is an initiative of the ISCIII, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. NB-G is supported by fellowship FI12/00545 from ISCIII. ; Peer reviewed

[Background] Hirschsprung disease (HSCR, OMIM 142623) is a rare congenital disorder that results from a failure to fully colonize the gut by enteric precursor cells (EPCs) derived from the neural crest. Such incomplete gut colonization is due to alterations in EPCs proliferation, survival, migration and/or differentiation during enteric nervous system (ENS) development. This complex process is regulated by a network of signaling pathways that is orchestrated by genetic and epigenetic factors, and therefore alterations at these levels can lead to the onset of neurocristopathies such as HSCR. The goal of this study is to broaden our knowledge of the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the disease context, specifically in DNA methylation. Therefore, with this aim, a Whole-Genome Bisulfite Sequencing assay has been performed using EPCs from HSCR patients and human controls. ; [Results] This is the first study to present a whole genome DNA methylation profile in HSCR and reveal a decrease of global DNA methylation in CpG context in HSCR patients compared with controls, which correlates with a greater hypomethylation of the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) identified. These results agree with the de novo Methyltransferase 3b downregulation in EPCs from HSCR patients compared to controls, and with the decrease in the global DNA methylation level previously described by our group. Through the comparative analysis of DMRs between HSCR patients and controls, a set of new genes has been identified as potential susceptibility genes for HSCR at an epigenetic level. Moreover, previous differentially methylated genes related to HSCR have been found, which validates our approach. ; [Conclusions] This study highlights the relevance of an adequate methylation pattern for a proper ENS development. This is a research area that provides a novel approach to deepen our understanding of the etiopathogenesis of HSCR. ; This work was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the Projects [PI16/0142, PI19/01550] (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund/European Social Fund, "A way to make Europe"/"Investing in your future"); and by the Regional Ministry of Health and Family of the Regional Government of Andalusia [PEER-0470–2019]. L.V.-B. was supported by a fellowship associated with the CTS-7447 Project, which has been funded by the Regional Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Regional Government of Andalusia. ; Peer reviewed

COVID-19 is a major worldwide health problem because of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mortality. Several lines of evidence have suggested a relationship between the vitamin D endocrine system and severity of COVID-19. We present a survival study on a retrospective cohort of 15,968 patients, comprising all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Andalusia between January and November 2020. Based on a central registry of electronic health records (the Andalusian Population Health Database, BPS), prescription of vitamin D or its metabolites within 15–30 days before hospitalization were recorded. The effect of prescription of vitamin D (metabolites) for other indication previous to the hospitalization was studied with respect to patient survival. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and hazard ratios support an association between prescription of these metabolites and patient survival. Such association was stronger for calcifediol (Hazard Ratio, HR = 0.67, with 95% confidence interval, CI, of [0.50–0.91]) than for cholecalciferol (HR = 0.75, with 95% CI of [0.61–0.91]), when prescribed 15 days prior hospitalization. Although the relation is maintained, there is a general decrease of this effect when a longer period of 30 days prior hospitalization is considered (calcifediol HR = 0.73, with 95% CI [0.57–0.95] and cholecalciferol HR = 0.88, with 95% CI [0.75, 1.03]), suggesting that association was stronger when the prescription was closer to the hospitalization. ; This work is supported by grants PID2020-117979RB-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, IMP/0019, ACCI2018/29 from CIBERER-ISCIII; COV20/00788 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF); grant G999088Q from the Fundación BBVA; grant H2020 Programme of the European Union grants Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Machine Learning Frontiers in Precision Medicine" (MLFPM) (GA 813533); P18-RT-3471 from Consejería de Salud y Familias de la Junta de Andalucía; CB16/10/00245, ...

Chemoprevention is a pragmatic approach to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in western countries. In this regard, maslinic acid (MA), a pentacyclic triterpene extracted from wax-like coatings of olives, is known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in colon cancer cell lines without affecting normal intestinal cells. The present study evaluated the chemopreventive efficacy and associated mechanisms of maslinic acid treatment on spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis in ApcMin/+ mice. Twenty-two mice were randomized into 2 groups: control group and MA group, fed with a maslinic acid–supplemented diet for six weeks. MA treatment reduced total intestinal polyp formation by 45% (P<0.01). Putative molecular mechanisms associated with suppressing intestinal polyposis in ApcMin/+ mice were investigated by comparing microarray expression profiles of MA-treated and control mice and by analyzing the serum metabolic profile using NMR techniques. The different expression phenotype induced by MA suggested that it exerts its chemopreventive action mainly by inhibiting cell-survival signaling and inflammation. These changes eventually induce G1-phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Moreover, the metabolic changes induced by MA treatment were associated with a protective profile against intestinal tumorigenesis. These results show the efficacy and underlying mechanisms of MA against intestinal tumor development in the ApcMin/+ mice model, suggesting its chemopreventive potential against colorectal cancer. ; Financial support was provided by grant SAF2011-25726 and personal financial support (FPU program) from the Spanish government and also from the Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation & European Regional Development Fund "Una manera de hacer Europa" (ISCIII-RTICC grants RD06/0020/004 and RD06/0020/1019 and BIO2011-27069, MICINN). The authors have also received financial support from the AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya (grant 2009SGR1308, 2009 CTP 00026 and Icrea Academia Award 2010 granted to M.C.) and the European Commission (FP7) ETHERPATHS KBBE-grant agreement no. 22263. The authors thank the Bio-NMR EU project (Contract # 261863) for providing NMR access to the HWB-NMR facility. Finally, the authors are grateful for the financial support from Biomaslinic S.L. (Granada, Spain).

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented opportunity to exploit the advantages of personalized medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance and management of a new challenge in public health. COVID-19 infection is highly variable, ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe, life-threatening manifestations. Personalized medicine can play a key role in elucidating individual susceptibility to the infection as well as inter-individual variability in clinical course, prognosis and response to treatment. Integrating personalized medicine into clinical practice can also transform health care by enabling the design of preventive and therapeutic strategies tailored to individual profiles, improving the detection of outbreaks or defining transmission patterns at an increasingly local level. SARS-CoV2 genome sequencing, together with the assessment of specific patient genetic variants, will support clinical decision-makers and ultimately better ways to fight this disease. Additionally, it would facilitate a better stratification and selection of patients for clinical trials, thus increasing the likelihood of obtaining positive results. Lastly, defining a national strategy to implement in clinical practice all available tools of personalized medicine in COVID-19 could be challenging but linked to a positive transformation of the health care system. In this review, we provide an update of the achievements, promises, and challenges of personalized medicine in the fight against COVID-19 from susceptibility to natural history and response to therapy, as well as from surveillance to control measures and vaccination. We also discuss strategies to facilitate the adoption of this new paradigm for medical and public health measures during and after the pandemic in health care systems. ; The authors included in this review have received funding for two COVID-19 projects (COVID GWAs, Premed COVID-19) from the Consejería de Salud y Familias of the Andalusian Government. DMM's contract is supported by the Andalussian government (Proyectos Estratégicos Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018). ; Peer reviewed

This work was supported by grants from project CGL2008-01131 (Departamento de Sanidad del Gobierno Vasco), S-PE08UN45 and PE09BF02 (Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnologia del Gobierno Vasco), BIO2008-04212, and RD06/0020/1019 (Red Tematica de Investigacion Cooperativa en Cancer, RTICC) from the MICINN. The CIBER de Enfermedades Raras is an initiative of the ISCIII. NGB had a doctoral fellowship from the Basque Government (Departamento de Educacion, Universidades e Investigacion).

Post-mortem tissues samples are a key resource for investigating patterns of gene expression. However, the processes triggered by death and the post-mortem interval (PMI) can significantly alter physiologically normal RNA levels. We investigate the impact of PMI on gene expression using data from multiple tissues of post-mortem donors obtained from the GTEx project. We find that many genes change expression over relatively short PMIs in a tissue-specific manner, but this potentially confounding effect in a biological analysis can be minimized by taking into account appropriate covariates. By comparing ante- and post-mortem blood samples, we identify the cascade of transcriptional events triggered by death of the organism. These events do not appear to simply reflect stochastic variation resulting from mRNA degradation, but active and ongoing regulation of transcription. Finally, we develop a model to predict the time since death from the analysis of the transcriptome of a few readily accessible tissues. ; This work was supported by the following grants and contracts: 1) From the US NIH: Contract HHSN261200800001E (Leidos Prime contract with NCI); Contracts 10XS170 (NDRI), 10XS171 (Roswell Park Cancer Institute), 10 × 172 (Science Care Inc.), and 12ST1039 (IDOX); Contract 10ST1035 (Van Andel Institute); Contract HHSN268201000029C (Broad Institute); R01 DA006227-17 (U Miami Brain Bank) 2) Ipatimup and i3s are partially funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT/MCTES in the framework POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274; 3) NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000029, supported by NORTE 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); 4) FCT Fellowships SFRH/BPD/89764/2012 to PO, PD/BD/128007/2016 to AS; Salary support to PGF by POPH—QREN Type 4.2, European Social Fund and MCTES, program Investigador FCT, IF/01127/2014. 5) BIO2014-57291-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and "Plataforma de Recursos Biomoleculares y Bioinformáticos" PT13/0001/0007 from the ISCIII, and EU H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1 ELIXIR-EXCELERATE (ref. 6,676559) Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017' and CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, 7) Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, under the FPU programme (Formación de Profesorado Universitario) with pre-doctoral fellowship FPU15/03635 to MMA. 8) Award Number 1R01MH101814 and 3R01MH101814-03S1 from the National Human Genome Research Institute. European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement RNA-MAPS_294653, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, referencia MEIC BIO2015-70777-P y los Fondos Estructurales de la Unión Europea (FEDER) and ISCIII del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, referencia PT13/0001/0021 cofinaciada por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). 9) MS received funding from CNPq (grant 310132/2015-0 and 427541/2016-6), and from FAPERJ (grant E_06/2015).

The knowledge of the genetic variability of the local population is of utmost importance in personalized medicine and has been revealed as a critical factor for the discovery of new disease variants. Here, we present the Collaborative Spanish Variability Server (CSVS), which currently contains more than 2000 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. This database has been generated in a collaborative crowdsourcing effort collecting sequencing data produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes. Sequences have been grouped by ICD10 upper categories. A web interface allows querying the database removing one or more ICD10 categories. In this way, aggregated counts of allele frequencies of the pseudo-control Spanish population can be obtained for diseases belonging to the category removed. Interestingly, in addition to pseudo-control studies, some population studies can be made, as, for example, prevalence of pharmacogenomic variants, etc. In addition, this genomic data has been used to define the first Spanish Genome Reference Panel (SGRP1.0) for imputation. This is the first local repository of variability entirely produced by a crowdsourcing effort and constitutes an example for future initiatives to characterize local variability worldwide. CSVS is also part of the GA4GH Beacon network. CSVS can be accessed at: http://csvs.babelomics.org/. ; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [SAF2017-88908-R, PT17/0009/0006 to J.D.; PI19/00321 and CIBERER ACCI-06/07/0036 to C.A., PI14-948, PI171659 and CIBERER ACCI-06/07/0036 to M.A.M.P.]; Regional Government of Madrid, RAREGenomicsCM [B2017/BMD-3721 to C.A. and B2017/BMD3721 to M.A.M.P.]; all co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) as well as EU H2020INFRADEV-1-2015-1 ELIXIR-EXCELERATE [676559]; University Chair UAM-IIS-FJD of Genomic Medicine and the Ramon Areces Foundation also supported this work. Funding for open access charge: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [SAF2017-88908-R]. ; Sí

The knowledge of the genetic variability of the local population is of utmost importance in personalized medicine and has been revealed as a critical factor for the discovery of new disease variants. Here, we present the Collaborative Spanish Variability Server (CSVS), which currently contains more than 2000 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. This database has been generated in a collaborative crowdsourcing effort collecting sequencing data produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes. Sequences have been grouped by ICD10 upper categories. A web interface allows querying the database removing one or more ICD10 categories. In this way, aggregated counts of allele frequencies of the pseudo-control Spanish population can be obtained for diseases belonging to the category removed. Interestingly, in addition to pseudo-control studies, some population studies can be made, as, for example, prevalence of pharmacogenomic variants, etc. In addition, this genomic data has been used to define the first Spanish Genome Reference Panel (SGRP1.0) for imputation. This is the first local repository of variability entirely produced by a crowdsourcing effort and constitutes an example for future initiatives to characterize local variability worldwide. CSVS is also part of the GA4GH Beacon network. CSVS can be accessed at: http://csvs.babelomics.org/. ; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [SAF2017-88908-R, PT17/0009/0006 to J.D.; PI19/00321 and CIBERER ACCI-06/07/0036 to C.A., PI14-948, PI17-1659 and CIBERER ACCI-06/07/0036 to M.A.M.P.]; Regional Government of Madrid, RAREGenomics-CM [B2017/BMD-3721 to C.A. and B2017/BMD3721 to M.A.M.P.]; all co-funded with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) as well as EU H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1 ELIXIR-EXCELERATE [676559]; University Chair UAM-IIS-FJD of Genomic Medicine and the Ramon Areces Foundation also supported this work. Funding for open access charge: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [SAF2017-88908-R]. ; Peer reviewed