@article {816, title = {Characterization of the Common Genetic Variation in the Spanish Population of Navarre.}, journal = {Genes (Basel)}, volume = {15}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 May 04}, abstract = {

Large-scale genomic studies have significantly increased our knowledge of genetic variability across populations. Regional genetic profiling is essential for distinguishing common benign variants from disease-causing ones. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive characterization of exonic variants in the population of Navarre (Spain), utilizing whole genome sequencing data from 358 unrelated individuals of Spanish origin. Our analysis revealed 61,410 biallelic single nucleotide variants (SNV) within the Navarrese cohort, with 35\% classified as common (MAF > 1\%). By comparing allele frequency data from 1000 Genome Project (excluding the Iberian cohort of Spain, IBS), Genome Aggregation Database, and a Spanish cohort (including IBS individuals and data from Medical Genome Project), we identified 1069 SNVs common in Navarre but rare (MAF <= 1\%) in all other populations. We further corroborated this observation with a second regional cohort of 239 unrelated exomes, which confirmed 676 of the 1069 SNVs as common in Navarre. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of population-specific characterization of genetic variation to improve allele frequency filtering in sequencing data analysis to identify disease-causing variants.

}, keywords = {Cohort Studies, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Humans, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Spain, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes15050585}, author = {Maillo, Alberto and Huergo, Estefania and Apell{\'a}niz-Ruiz, Mar{\'\i}a and Urrutia-Lafuente, Edurne and Miranda, Mar{\'\i}a and Salgado, Josefa and Pasalodos-Sanchez, Sara and Delgado-Mora, Luna and Teijido, {\'O}scar and Goicoechea, Ibai and Carmona, Rosario and Perez-Florido, Javier and Aquino, Virginia and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Beltran, Sergi and Dopazo, Joaquin and Lasa, I{\~n}igo and Beloqui, Juan Jos{\'e} and Alonso, {\'A}ngel and Gomez-Cabrero, David} } @article {805, title = {Drug-target identification in COVID-19 disease mechanisms using computational systems biology approaches.}, journal = {Front Immunol}, volume = {14}, year = {2024}, month = {2023}, pages = {1282859}, abstract = {

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 Disease Map project is a large-scale community effort uniting 277 scientists from 130 Institutions around the globe. We use high-quality, mechanistic content describing SARS-CoV-2-host interactions and develop interoperable bioinformatic pipelines for novel target identification and drug repurposing.

METHODS: Extensive community work allowed an impressive step forward in building interfaces between Systems Biology tools and platforms. Our framework can link biomolecules from omics data analysis and computational modelling to dysregulated pathways in a cell-, tissue- or patient-specific manner. Drug repurposing using text mining and AI-assisted analysis identified potential drugs, chemicals and microRNAs that could target the identified key factors.

RESULTS: Results revealed drugs already tested for anti-COVID-19 efficacy, providing a mechanistic context for their mode of action, and drugs already in clinical trials for treating other diseases, never tested against COVID-19.

DISCUSSION: The key advance is that the proposed framework is versatile and expandable, offering a significant upgrade in the arsenal for virus-host interactions and other complex pathologies.

}, keywords = {Computer Simulation, COVID-19, drug repositioning, Humans, SARS-CoV-2, Systems biology}, issn = {1664-3224}, doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2023.1282859}, author = {Niarakis, Anna and Ostaszewski, Marek and Mazein, Alexander and Kuperstein, Inna and Kutmon, Martina and Gillespie, Marc E and Funahashi, Akira and Acencio, Marcio Luis and Hemedan, Ahmed and Aichem, Michael and Klein, Karsten and Czauderna, Tobias and Burtscher, Felicia and Yamada, Takahiro G and Hiki, Yusuke and Hiroi, Noriko F and Hu, Finterly and Pham, Nhung and Ehrhart, Friederike and Willighagen, Egon L and Valdeolivas, Alberto and Dugourd, Aur{\'e}lien and Messina, Francesco and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rian, Kinza and Soliman, Sylvain and Aghamiri, Sara Sadat and Puniya, Bhanwar Lal and Naldi, Aur{\'e}lien and Helikar, Tom{\'a}{\v s} and Singh, Vidisha and Fern{\'a}ndez, Marco Fari{\~n}as and Bermudez, Viviam and Tsirvouli, Eirini and Montagud, Arnau and No{\"e}l, Vincent and Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel and Maier, Dieter and Bauch, Angela and Gyori, Benjamin M and Bachman, John A and Luna, Augustin and Pi{\~n}ero, Janet and Furlong, Laura I and Balaur, Irina and Rougny, Adrien and Jarosz, Yohan and Overall, Rupert W and Phair, Robert and Perfetto, Livia and Matthews, Lisa and Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya and Orlic-Milacic, Marija and Gomez, Luis Cristobal Monraz and De Meulder, Bertrand and Ravel, Jean Marie and Jassal, Bijay and Satagopam, Venkata and Wu, Guanming and Golebiewski, Martin and Gawron, Piotr and Calzone, Laurence and Beckmann, Jacques S and Evelo, Chris T and D{\textquoteright}Eustachio, Peter and Schreiber, Falk and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Kuiper, Martin and Valencia, Alfonso and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Kitano, Hiroaki and Barillot, Emmanuel and Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Schneider, Reinhard} } @article {807, title = {HMGA1 regulates trabectedin sensitivity in advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (STS): A Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS) study.}, journal = {Cell Mol Life Sci}, volume = {81}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 May 17}, pages = {219}, abstract = {

HMGA1 is a structural epigenetic chromatin factor that has been associated with tumor progression and drug resistance. Here, we reported the prognostic/predictive value of HMGA1 for trabectedin in advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) and the effect of inhibiting HMGA1 or the mTOR downstream pathway in trabectedin activity. The prognostic/predictive value of HMGA1 expression was assessed in a cohort of 301 STS patients at mRNA (n = 133) and protein level (n = 272), by HTG EdgeSeq transcriptomics and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The effect of HMGA1 silencing on trabectedin activity and gene expression profiling was measured in leiomyosarcoma cells. The effect of combining mTOR inhibitors with trabectedin was assessed on cell viability in vitro studies, whereas in vivo studies tested the activity of this combination. HMGA1 mRNA and protein expression were significantly associated with worse progression-free survival of trabectedin and worse overall survival in STS. HMGA1 silencing sensitized leiomyosarcoma cells for trabectedin treatment, reducing the spheroid area and increasing cell death. The downregulation of HGMA1 significantly decreased the enrichment of some specific gene sets, including the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. The inhibition of mTOR, sensitized leiomyosarcoma cultures for trabectedin treatment, increasing cell death. In in vivo studies, the combination of rapamycin with trabectedin downregulated HMGA1 expression and stabilized tumor growth of 3-methylcholantrene-induced sarcoma-like models. HMGA1 is an adverse prognostic factor for trabectedin treatment in advanced STS. HMGA1 silencing increases trabectedin efficacy, in part by modulating the mTOR signaling pathway. Trabectedin plus mTOR inhibitors are active in preclinical models of sarcoma, downregulating HMGA1 expression levels and stabilizing tumor growth.

}, keywords = {Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating, Cell Line, Tumor, Drug Resistance, Neoplasm, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, HMGA1a Protein, Humans, Leiomyosarcoma, Mice, Prognosis, Sarcoma, Signal Transduction, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases, Trabectedin, Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays}, issn = {1420-9071}, doi = {10.1007/s00018-024-05250-y}, author = {Moura, David S and Mondaza-Hernandez, Jose L and Sanchez-Bustos, Paloma and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Cordero-Varela, Juan A and Lopez-Alvarez, Maria and Carrillo-Garcia, Jaime and Martin-Ruiz, Marta and Romero-Gonzalez, Pablo and Renshaw-Calderon, Marta and Ramos, Rafael and Marcilla, David and Alvarez-Alegret, Ramiro and Agra-Pujol, Carolina and Izquierdo, Francisco and Ortega-Medina, Luis and Martin-Davila, Francisco and Hernandez-Leon, Carmen Nieves and Romagosa, Cleofe and Salgado, Maria Angeles Vaz and Lavernia, Javier and Bagu{\'e}, Silvia and Mayodormo-Aranda, Empar and Alvarez, Rosa and Valverde, Claudia and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Castilla-Ramirez, Carolina and Gutierrez, Antonio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Hindi, Nadia and Garcia-Foncillas, Jesus and Martin-Broto, Javier} } @article {726, title = {A comprehensive database for integrated analysis of omics data in autoimmune diseases.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {22}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Jun 24}, pages = {343}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune diseases are heterogeneous pathologies with difficult diagnosis and few therapeutic options. In the last decade, several omics studies have provided significant insights into the molecular mechanisms of these diseases. Nevertheless, data from different cohorts and pathologies are stored independently in public repositories and a unified resource is imperative to assist researchers in this field.

RESULTS: Here, we present Autoimmune Diseases Explorer ( https://adex.genyo.es ), a database that integrates 82 curated transcriptomics and methylation studies covering 5609 samples for some of the most common autoimmune diseases. The database provides, in an easy-to-use environment, advanced data analysis and statistical methods for exploring omics datasets, including meta-analysis, differential expression or pathway analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first omics database focused on autoimmune diseases. This resource incorporates homogeneously processed data to facilitate integrative analyses among studies.

}, keywords = {Autoimmune Diseases, Computational Biology, Databases, Factual, Humans}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-021-04268-4}, author = {Martorell-Marug{\'a}n, Jordi and L{\'o}pez-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Ra{\'u}l and Garc{\'\i}a-Moreno, Adri{\'a}n and Toro-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Daniel and Villatoro-Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Antonio and Barturen, Guillermo and Mart{\'\i}n-G{\'o}mez, Adoraci{\'o}n and Troule, Kevin and G{\'o}mez-L{\'o}pez, Gonzalo and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Gonz{\'a}lez-Rumayor, V{\'\i}ctor and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Alarc{\'o}n-Riquelme, Marta E and Carmona-S{\'a}ez, Pedro} } @article {736, title = {COVID19 Disease Map, a computational knowledge repository of virus-host interaction mechanisms.}, journal = {Mol Syst Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 10}, pages = {e10387}, abstract = {

We need to effectively combine the knowledge from surging literature with complex datasets to propose mechanistic models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, improving data interpretation and predicting key targets of intervention. Here, we describe a large-scale community effort to build an open access, interoperable and computable repository of COVID-19 molecular mechanisms. The COVID-19 Disease Map (C19DMap) is a graphical, interactive representation of disease-relevant molecular mechanisms linking many knowledge sources. Notably, it is a computational resource for graph-based analyses and disease modelling. To this end, we established a framework of tools, platforms and guidelines necessary for a multifaceted community of biocurators, domain experts, bioinformaticians and computational biologists. The diagrams of the C19DMap, curated from the literature, are integrated with relevant interaction and text mining databases. We demonstrate the application of network analysis and modelling approaches by concrete examples to highlight new testable hypotheses. This framework helps to find signatures of SARS-CoV-2 predisposition, treatment response or prioritisation of drug candidates. Such an approach may help deal with new waves of COVID-19 or similar pandemics in the long-term perspective.

}, keywords = {Antiviral Agents, Computational Biology, Computer Graphics, COVID-19, Cytokines, Data Mining, Databases, Factual, Gene Expression Regulation, Host Microbial Interactions, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Immunity, Humoral, Immunity, Innate, Lymphocytes, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Myeloid Cells, Protein Interaction Mapping, SARS-CoV-2, Signal Transduction, Software, Transcription Factors, Viral Proteins}, issn = {1744-4292}, doi = {10.15252/msb.202110387}, author = {Ostaszewski, Marek and Niarakis, Anna and Mazein, Alexander and Kuperstein, Inna and Phair, Robert and Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio and Singh, Vidisha and Aghamiri, Sara Sadat and Acencio, Marcio Luis and Glaab, Enrico and Ruepp, Andreas and Fobo, Gisela and Montrone, Corinna and Brauner, Barbara and Frishman, Goar and Monraz G{\'o}mez, Luis Crist{\'o}bal and Somers, Julia and Hoch, Matti and Kumar Gupta, Shailendra and Scheel, Julia and Borlinghaus, Hanna and Czauderna, Tobias and Schreiber, Falk and Montagud, Arnau and Ponce de Leon, Miguel and Funahashi, Akira and Hiki, Yusuke and Hiroi, Noriko and Yamada, Takahiro G and Dr{\"a}ger, Andreas and Renz, Alina and Naveez, Muhammad and Bocskei, Zsolt and Messina, Francesco and B{\"o}rnigen, Daniela and Fergusson, Liam and Conti, Marta and Rameil, Marius and Nakonecnij, Vanessa and Vanhoefer, Jakob and Schmiester, Leonard and Wang, Muying and Ackerman, Emily E and Shoemaker, Jason E and Zucker, Jeremy and Oxford, Kristie and Teuton, Jeremy and Kocakaya, Ebru and Summak, G{\"o}k{\c c}e Ya{\u g}mur and Hanspers, Kristina and Kutmon, Martina and Coort, Susan and Eijssen, Lars and Ehrhart, Friederike and Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya and Slenter, Denise and Martens, Marvin and Pham, Nhung and Haw, Robin and Jassal, Bijay and Matthews, Lisa and Orlic-Milacic, Marija and Senff Ribeiro, Andrea and Rothfels, Karen and Shamovsky, Veronica and Stephan, Ralf and Sevilla, Cristoffer and Varusai, Thawfeek and Ravel, Jean-Marie and Fraser, Rupsha and Ortseifen, Vera and Marchesi, Silvia and Gawron, Piotr and Smula, Ewa and Heirendt, Laurent and Satagopam, Venkata and Wu, Guanming and Riutta, Anders and Golebiewski, Martin and Owen, Stuart and Goble, Carole and Hu, Xiaoming and Overall, Rupert W and Maier, Dieter and Bauch, Angela and Gyori, Benjamin M and Bachman, John A and Vega, Carlos and Grou{\`e}s, Valentin and Vazquez, Miguel and Porras, Pablo and Licata, Luana and Iannuccelli, Marta and Sacco, Francesca and Nesterova, Anastasia and Yuryev, Anton and de Waard, Anita and Turei, Denes and Luna, Augustin and Babur, Ozgun and Soliman, Sylvain and Valdeolivas, Alberto and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rian, Kinza and Helikar, Tom{\'a}{\v s} and Puniya, Bhanwar Lal and Modos, Dezso and Treveil, Agatha and Olbei, Marton and De Meulder, Bertrand and Ballereau, Stephane and Dugourd, Aur{\'e}lien and Naldi, Aur{\'e}lien and No{\"e}l, Vincent and Calzone, Laurence and Sander, Chris and Demir, Emek and Korcsmaros, Tamas and Freeman, Tom C and Aug{\'e}, Franck and Beckmann, Jacques S and Hasenauer, Jan and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Wilighagen, Egon L and Pico, Alexander R and Evelo, Chris T and Gillespie, Marc E and Stein, Lincoln D and Hermjakob, Henning and D{\textquoteright}Eustachio, Peter and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Valencia, Alfonso and Kitano, Hiroaki and Barillot, Emmanuel and Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Schneider, Reinhard} } @article {701, title = {CSVS, a crowdsourcing database of the Spanish population genetic variability.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {49}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 01 08}, pages = {D1130-D1137}, abstract = {

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/.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Chromosome Mapping, Crowdsourcing, Databases, Genetic, Exome, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Genomics, Humans, Internet, Precision Medicine, Software, Spain}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkaa794}, author = {Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rold{\'a}n, Gema and Perez-Florido, Javier and Ortuno, Francisco M and Carmona, Rosario and Aquino, Virginia and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Loucera, Carlos and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L and Gallego, Asunci{\'o}n and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna and Pita, Guillermo and N{\'u}{\~n}ez-Torres, Roc{\'\i}o and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Ayuso, Carmen and Minguez, Pablo and Avila-Fernandez, Almudena and Corton, Marta and Moreno-Pelayo, Miguel {\'A}ngel and Morin, Mat{\'\i}as and Gallego-Martinez, Alvaro and Lopez-Escamez, Jose A and Borrego, Salud and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo and Amigo, Jorge and Salgado-Garrido, Josefa and Pasalodos-Sanchez, Sara and Morte, Beatriz and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Alonso, {\'A}ngel and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {761, title = {Immunotherapy in nonsmall-cell lung cancer: current status and future prospects for liquid biopsy.}, journal = {Cancer Immunol Immunother}, volume = {70}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 May}, pages = {1177-1188}, abstract = {

Immunotherapy has been one of the great advances in the recent years for the treatment of advanced tumors, with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) being one of the cancers that has benefited most from this approach. Currently, the only validated companion diagnostic test for first-line immunotherapy in metastatic NSCLC patients is testing for programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor tissues. However, not all patients experience an effective response with the established selection criteria and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Liquid biopsy offers a noninvasive opportunity to monitor disease in patients with cancer and identify those who would benefit the most from immunotherapy. This review focuses on the use of liquid biopsy in immunotherapy treatment of NSCLC patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes are promising tools for developing new biomarkers. We discuss the current application and future implementation of these parameters to improve therapeutic decision-making and identify the patients who will benefit most from immunotherapy.

}, keywords = {Animals, Biomarkers, Tumor, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids, Exosomes, Humans, Immunotherapy, Liquid Biopsy, Lung Neoplasms}, issn = {1432-0851}, doi = {10.1007/s00262-020-02752-z}, author = {Brozos-V{\'a}zquez, Elena Mar{\'\i}a and D{\'\i}az-Pe{\~n}a, Roberto and Garc{\'\i}a-Gonz{\'a}lez, Jorge and Le{\'o}n-Mateos, Luis and Mondelo-Mac{\'\i}a, Patricia and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Rafael} } @article {745, title = {Real world evidence of calcifediol or vitamin D prescription and mortality rate of COVID-19 in a retrospective cohort of hospitalized Andalusian patients.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {11}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 12 03}, pages = {23380}, abstract = {

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.

}, keywords = {Calcifediol, COVID-19, Female, Humans, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Male, Retrospective Studies, Spain, Survival Analysis, Vitamin D}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-02701-5}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Mu{\~n}oyerro-Mu{\~n}iz, Dolores and Villegas, Rom{\'a}n and L{\'o}pez-Miranda, Jos{\'e} and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ba{\~n}o, Jes{\'u}s and T{\'u}nez, Isaac and Bouillon, Roger and Dopazo, Joaquin and Quesada Gomez, Jose Manuel} } @article {712, title = {A versatile workflow to integrate RNA-seq genomic and transcriptomic data into mechanistic models of signaling pathways.}, journal = {PLoS Comput Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 02}, pages = {e1008748}, abstract = {

MIGNON is a workflow for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments, which not only efficiently manages the estimation of gene expression levels from raw sequencing reads, but also calls genomic variants present in the transcripts analyzed. Moreover, this is the first workflow that provides a framework for the integration of transcriptomic and genomic data based on a mechanistic model of signaling pathway activities that allows a detailed biological interpretation of the results, including a comprehensive functional profiling of cell activity. MIGNON covers the whole process, from reads to signaling circuit activity estimations, using state-of-the-art tools, it is easy to use and it is deployable in different computational environments, allowing an optimized use of the resources available.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Cell Line, Tumor, Computational Biology, Databases, Factual, Gene Expression Profiling, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Models, Theoretical, mutation, RNA-seq, Signal Transduction, Software, Transcriptome, whole exome sequencing, Workflow}, issn = {1553-7358}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008748}, author = {Garrido-Rodriguez, Mart{\'\i}n and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Ortuno, Francisco M and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Mu{\~n}oz, Eduardo and Calzado, Marco A and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {713, title = {Drug repurposing for COVID-19 using machine learning and mechanistic models of signal transduction circuits related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.}, journal = {Signal Transduct Target Ther}, volume = {5}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 11}, pages = {290}, keywords = {Computational Chemistry, COVID-19, drug repositioning, Humans, Machine Learning, Molecular Docking Simulation, Molecular Targeted Therapy, Proteins, SARS-CoV-2, Signal Transduction}, issn = {2059-3635}, doi = {10.1038/s41392-020-00417-y}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Rian, Kinza and Falco, Matias M and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria} } @article {695, title = {Mechanistic Models of Signaling Pathways Reveal the Drug Action Mechanisms behind Gender-Specific Gene Expression for Cancer Treatments.}, journal = {Cells}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 06 29}, abstract = {

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.

}, keywords = {Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Male, Neoplasms, Signal Transduction}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells9071579}, author = {Cubuk, Cankut and Can, Fatma E and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {707, title = {Nivolumab and sunitinib combination in advanced soft tissue sarcomas: a multicenter, single-arm, phase Ib/II trial.}, journal = {J Immunother Cancer}, volume = {8}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 11}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Sarcomas exhibit low expression of factors related to immune response, which could explain the modest activity of PD-1 inhibitors. A potential strategy to convert a cold into an inflamed microenvironment lies on a combination therapy. As tumor angiogenesis promotes immunosuppression, we designed a phase Ib/II trial to test the double inhibition of angiogenesis (sunitinib) and PD-1/PD-L1 axis (nivolumab).

METHODS: This single-arm, phase Ib/II trial enrolled adult patients with selected subtypes of sarcoma. Phase Ib established two dose levels: level 0 with sunitinib 37.5 mg daily from day 1, plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg intravenously on day 15, and then every 2 weeks; and level -1 with sunitinib 37.5 mg on the first 14 days (induction) and then 25 mg per day plus nivolumab on the same schedule. The primary endpoint was to determine the recommended dose for phase II (phase I) and the 6-month progression-free survival rate, according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 (phase II).

RESULTS: From May 2017 to April 2019, 68 patients were enrolled: 16 in phase Ib and 52 in phase II. The recommended dose of sunitinib for phase II was 37.5 mg as induction and then 25 mg in combination with nivolumab. After a median follow-up of 17 months (4-26), the 6-month progression-free survival rate was 48\% (95\% CI 41\% to 55\%). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events included transaminitis (17.3\%) and neutropenia (11.5\%).

CONCLUSIONS: Sunitinib plus nivolumab is an active scheme with manageable toxicity in the treatment of selected patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, with almost half of patients free of progression at 6 months. NCT03277924.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nivolumab, Sarcoma, Sunitinib, Young Adult}, issn = {2051-1426}, doi = {10.1136/jitc-2020-001561}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Hindi, Nadia and Grignani, Giovanni and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Redondo, Andres and Valverde, Claudia and Stacchiotti, Silvia and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and D{\textquoteright}Ambrosio, Lorenzo and Gutierrez, Antonio and Perez-Vega, Herminia and Encinas-Tobajas, Victor and de Alava, Enrique and Collini, Paola and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Carrasco-Garcia, Irene and Lopez-Alvarez, Maria and Moura, David S and Lopez-Martin, Jose A} } @article {653, title = {Pazopanib for treatment of typical solitary fibrous tumours: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial.}, journal = {Lancet Oncol}, volume = {21}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 03}, pages = {456-466}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Solitary fibrous tumour is an ultra-rare sarcoma, which encompasses different clinicopathological subgroups. The dedifferentiated subgroup shows an aggressive course with resistance to pazopanib, whereas in the malignant subgroup, pazopanib shows higher activity than in previous studies with chemotherapy. We designed a trial to test pazopanib activity in two different cohorts of solitary fibrous tumour: the malignant-dedifferentiated cohort, which was previously published, and the typical cohort, which is presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged >=18 years) diagnosed with confirmed metastatic or unresectable typical solitary fibrous tumour of any location, who had progressed in the previous 6 months (by Choi criteria or Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors [RECIST]) and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 were enrolled at 11 tertiary hospitals in Italy, France, and Spain. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally, until progression, unacceptable toxicity, withdrawal of consent, non-compliance, or a delay in pazopanib administration of longer than 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was proportion of patients achieving an overall response measured by Choi criteria in patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment. All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Dec 13, 2018, of 40 patients who were assessed, 34 patients were enrolled and 31 patients were included in the response analysis. Median follow-up was 18 months (IQR 14-34), and 18 (58\%) of 31 patients had a partial response, 12 (39\%) had stable disease, and one (3\%) showed progressive disease according to Choi criteria and central review. The proportion of overall response based on Choi criteria was 58\% (95\% CI 34-69). There were no deaths caused by toxicity, and the most frequent adverse events were diarrhoea (18 [53\%] of 34 patients), fatigue (17 [50\%]), and hypertension (17 [50\%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective trial of pazopanib for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour. The manageable toxicity and activity shown by pazopanib in this cohort suggest that this drug could be considered as first-line treatment for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

}, keywords = {Aged, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Indazoles, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Metastasis, Prognosis, Prospective Studies, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Pyrimidines, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Solitary Fibrous Tumors, Sulfonamides, Survival Rate}, issn = {1474-5488}, doi = {10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30826-5}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Cruz, Josefina and Penel, Nicolas and Le Cesne, Axel and Hindi, Nadia and Luna, Pablo and Moura, David S and Bernabeu, Daniel and de Alava, Enrique and Lopez-Guerrero, Jose Antonio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Gutierrez, Antonio and Collini, Paola and Karanian, Marie and Redondo, Andres and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and Grignani, Giovanni and Diaz-Martin, Juan and Marcilla, David and Fernandez-Serra, Antonio and Gonzalez-Aguilera, Cristina and Casali, Paolo G and Blay, Jean-Yves and Stacchiotti, Silvia} } @article {610, title = {Exploring the druggable space around the Fanconi anemia pathway using machine learning and mechanistic models.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {20}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jul 02}, pages = {370}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In spite of the abundance of genomic data, predictive models that describe phenotypes as a function of gene expression or mutations are difficult to obtain because they are affected by the curse of dimensionality, given the disbalance between samples and candidate genes. And this is especially dramatic in scenarios in which the availability of samples is difficult, such as the case of rare diseases.

RESULTS: The application of multi-output regression machine learning methodologies to predict the potential effect of external proteins over the signaling circuits that trigger Fanconi anemia related cell functionalities, inferred with a mechanistic model, allowed us to detect over 20 potential therapeutic targets.

CONCLUSIONS: The use of artificial intelligence methods for the prediction of potentially causal relationships between proteins of interest and cell activities related with disease-related phenotypes opens promising avenues for the systematic search of new targets in rare diseases.

}, keywords = {Databases, Factual, Fanconi Anemia, Genomics, Humans, Machine Learning, Phenotype, Proteins, Signal Transduction}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-019-2969-0}, author = {Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Loucera, Carlos and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {423, title = {Pazopanib for treatment of advanced malignant and dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial.}, journal = {Lancet Oncol}, volume = {20}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jan}, pages = {134-144}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: A solitary fibrous tumour is a rare soft-tissue tumour with three clinicopathological variants: typical, malignant, and dedifferentiated. Preclinical experiments and retrospective studies have shown different sensitivities of solitary fibrous tumour to chemotherapy and antiangiogenics. We therefore designed a trial to assess the activity of pazopanib in a cohort of patients with malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour. The clinical and translational results are presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged >= 18 years) with histologically confirmed metastatic or unresectable malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour at any location, who had progressed (by RECIST and Choi criteria) in the previous 6 months and had an ECOG performance status of 0-2, were enrolled at 16 third-level hospitals with expertise in sarcoma care in Spain, Italy, and France. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally without food, at least 1 h before or 2 h after a meal, until progression or intolerance. The primary endpoint of the study was overall response measured by Choi criteria in the subset of the intention-to-treat population (patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment). All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT number 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Nov 24, 2016, of 40 patients assessed, 36 were enrolled (34 with malignant solitary fibrous tumour and two with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour). Median follow-up was 27 months (IQR 16-31). Based on central radiology review, 18 (51\%) of 35 evaluable patients had partial responses, nine (26\%) had stable disease, and eight (23\%) had progressive disease according to Choi criteria. Further enrolment of patients with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour was stopped after detection of early and fast progressions in a planned interim analysis. 51\% (95\% CI 34-69) of 35 patients achieved an overall response according to Choi criteria. Ten (29\%) of 35 patients died. There were no deaths related to adverse events and the most frequent grade 3 or higher adverse events were hypertension (11 [31\%] of 36 patients), neutropenia (four [11\%]), increased concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (four [11\%]), and increased concentrations of bilirubin (three [8\%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first trial of pazopanib for treatment of malignant solitary fibrous tumour showing activity in this patient group. The manageable toxicity profile and the activity shown by pazopanib suggests that this drug could be an option for systemic treatment of advanced malignant solitary fibrous tumour, and provides a benchmark for future trials.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Angiogenesis Inhibitors, Antineoplastic Agents, Female, Humans, Indazoles, Male, Middle Aged, Multivariate Analysis, Pyrimidines, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Soft Tissue Neoplasms, Solitary Fibrous Tumors, Sulfonamides, Survival Analysis}, issn = {1474-5488}, doi = {10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30676-4}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Stacchiotti, Silvia and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and Redondo, Andres and Bernabeu, Daniel and de Alava, Enrique and Casali, Paolo G and Italiano, Antoine and Gutierrez, Antonio and Moura, David S and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Diaz-Martin, Juan and Biscuola, Michele and Taron, Miguel and Collini, Paola and Ranchere-Vince, Dominique and Garcia Del Muro, Xavier and Grignani, Giovanni and Dumont, Sarah and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Palmerini, Emanuela and Hindi, Nadia and Sebio, Ana and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dei Tos, Angelo Paolo and LeCesne, Axel and Blay, Jean-Yves and Cruz, Josefina} }