@article {760, title = {Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jun 16}, abstract = {

Here we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 COVID-19 positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (p < 5x10-8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (p =~1.3x10-22 and p =~8.1x10-12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (p =~4.4x10-8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (p =~2.7x10-8) and ARHGAP33 (p =~1.3x10-8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, p = 4.1x10-8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or >= 60~years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.

}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddac132}, author = {Cruz, Raquel and Almeida, Silvia Diz-de and Heredia, Miguel L{\'o}pez and Quintela, In{\'e}s and Ceballos, Francisco C and Pita, Guillermo and Lorenzo-Salazar, Jos{\'e} M and Gonz{\'a}lez-Montelongo, Rafaela and Gago-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Manuela and Porras, Marta Sevilla and Casta{\~n}o, Jair Antonio Tenorio and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Aguado, Jose Mar{\'\i}a and Aguilar, Carlos and Aguilera-Albesa, Sergio and Almadana, Virginia and Almoguera, Berta and Alvarez, Nuria and Andreu-Bernabeu, {\'A}lvaro and Arana-Arri, Eunate and Arango, Celso and Arranz, Mar{\'\i}a J and Artiga, Maria-Jesus and Baptista-Rosas, Ra{\'u}l C and Barreda-S{\'a}nchez, Mar{\'\i}a and Belhassen-Garcia, Moncef and Bezerra, Joao F and Bezerra, Marcos A C and Boix-Palop, Luc{\'\i}a and Bri{\'o}n, Maria and Brugada, Ram{\'o}n and Bustos, Matilde and Calder{\'o}n, Enrique J and Carbonell, Cristina and Castano, Luis and Castelao, Jose E and Conde-Vicente, Rosa and Cordero-Lorenzana, M Lourdes and Cortes-Sanchez, Jose L and Corton, Marta and Darnaude, M Teresa and De Martino-Rodr{\'\i}guez, Alba and Campo-P{\'e}rez, Victor and Bustamante, Aranzazu Diaz and Dom{\'\i}nguez-Garrido, Elena and Luchessi, Andr{\'e} D and Eir{\'o}s, Roc{\'\i}o and Sanabria, Gladys Mercedes Estigarribia and Fari{\~n}as, Mar{\'\i}a Carmen and Fern{\'a}ndez-Robelo, Ux{\'\i}a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Rodr{\'\i}guez, Amanda and Fern{\'a}ndez-Villa, Tania and Gil-Fournier, Bel{\'e}n and G{\'o}mez-Arrue, Javier and {\'A}lvarez, Beatriz Gonz{\'a}lez and Quir{\'o}s, Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo and Gonz{\'a}lez-Pe{\~n}as, Javier and Guti{\'e}rrez-Bautista, Juan F and Herrero, Mar{\'\i}a Jos{\'e} and Herrero-Gonzalez, Antonio and Jimenez-Sousa, Mar{\'\i}a A and Lattig, Mar{\'\i}a Claudia and Borja, Anabel Liger and Lopez-Rodriguez, Rosario and Mancebo, Esther and Mart{\'\i}n-L{\'o}pez, Caridad and Mart{\'\i}n, Vicente and Martinez-Nieto, Oscar and Martinez-Lopez, Iciar and Martinez-Resendez, Michel F and Martinez-Perez, {\'A}ngel and Mazzeu, Juliana A and Mac{\'\i}as, Eleuterio Merayo and Minguez, Pablo and Cuerda, Victor Moreno and Silbiger, Vivian N and Oliveira, Silviene F and Ortega-Paino, Eva and Parellada, Mara and Paz-Artal, Estela and Santos, Ney P C and P{\'e}rez-Matute, Patricia and Perez, Patricia and P{\'e}rez-Tom{\'a}s, M Elena and Perucho, Teresa and Pinsach-Abuin, Mel Lina and Pompa-Mera, Ericka N and Porras-Hurtado, Gloria L and Pujol, Aurora and Le{\'o}n, Soraya Ramiro and Resino, Salvador and Fernandes, Marianne R and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ruiz, Emilio and Rodriguez-Artalejo, Fernando and Rodriguez-Garcia, Jos{\'e} A and Ruiz-Cabello, Francisco and Ruiz-Hornillos, Javier and Ryan, Pablo and Soria, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Souto, Juan Carlos and Tamayo, Eduardo and Tamayo-Velasco, Alvaro and Taracido-Fernandez, Juan Carlos and Teper, Alejandro and Torres-Tobar, Lilian and Urioste, Miguel and Valencia-Ramos, Juan and Y{\'a}{\~n}ez, Zuleima and Zarate, Ruth and Nakanishi, Tomoko and Pigazzini, Sara and Degenhardt, Frauke and Butler-Laporte, Guillaume and Maya-Miles, Douglas and Bujanda, Luis and Bouysran, Youssef and Palom, Adriana and Ellinghaus, David and Mart{\'\i}nez-Bueno, Manuel and Rolker, Selina and Amitrano, Sara and Roade, Luisa and Fava, Francesca and Spinner, Christoph D and Prati, Daniele and Bernardo, David and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Darcis, Gilles and Fern{\'a}ndez-Cadenas, Israel and Holter, Jan Cato and Banales, Jesus M and Frithiof, Robert and Duga, Stefano and Asselta, Rosanna and Pereira, Alexandre C and Romero-G{\'o}mez, Manuel and Nafr{\'\i}a-Jim{\'e}nez, Beatriz and Hov, Johannes R and Migeotte, Isabelle and Renieri, Alessandra and Planas, Anna M and Ludwig, Kerstin U and Buti, Maria and Rahmouni, Souad and Alarc{\'o}n-Riquelme, Marta E and Schulte, Eva C and Franke, Andre and Karlsen, Tom H and Valenti, Luca and Zeberg, Hugo and Richards, Brent and Ganna, Andrea and Boada, Merc{\`e} and Rojas, Itziar and Ruiz, Agust{\'\i}n and S{\'a}nchez, Pascual and Real, Luis Miguel and Guill{\'e}n-Navarro, Encarna and Ayuso, Carmen and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna and Riancho, Jos{\'e} A and Rojas-Martinez, Augusto and Flores, Carlos and Lapunzina, Pablo and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel} } @article {714, title = {The NCI Genomic Data Commons}, journal = {Nature Genetics}, year = {2021}, month = {Oct-02-2022}, issn = {1061-4036}, doi = {10.1038/s41588-021-00791-5}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-021-00791-5}, author = {Heath, Allison P. and Ferretti, Vincent and Agrawal, Stuti and An, Maksim and Angelakos, James C. and Arya, Renuka and Bajari, Rosita and Baqar, Bilal and Barnowski, Justin H. B. and Burt, Jeffrey and Catton, Ann and Chan, Brandon F. and Chu, Fay and Cullion, Kim and Davidsen, Tanja and Do, Phuong-My and Dompierre, Christian and Ferguson, Martin L. and Fitzsimons, Michael S. and Ford, Michael and Fukuma, Miyuki and Gaheen, Sharon and Ganji, Gajanan L. and Garcia, Tzintzuni I. and George, Sameera S. and Gerhard, Daniela S. and Gerthoffert, Francois and Gomez, Fauzi and Han, Kang and Hernandez, Kyle M. and Issac, Biju and Jackson, Richard and Jensen, Mark A. and Joshi, Sid and Kadam, Ajinkya and Khurana, Aishmit and Kim, Kyle M. J. and Kraft, Victoria E. and Li, Shenglai and Lichtenberg, Tara M. and Lodato, Janice and Lolla, Laxmi and Martinov, Plamen and Mazzone, Jeffrey A. and Miller, Daniel P. and Miller, Ian and Miller, Joshua S. and Miyauchi, Koji and Murphy, Mark W. and Nullet, Thomas and Ogwara, Rowland O. and Ortu{\~n}o, Francisco M. and Pedrosa, Jes{\'u}s and Pham, Phuong L. and Popov, Maxim Y. and Porter, James J. and Powell, Raymond and Rademacher, Karl and Reid, Colin P. and Rich, Samantha and Rogel, Bessie and Sahni, Himanso and Savage, Jeremiah H. and Schmitt, Kyle A. and Simmons, Trevar J. and Sislow, Joseph and Spring, Jonathan and Stein, Lincoln and Sullivan, Sean and Tang, Yajing and Thiagarajan, Mathangi and Troyer, Heather D. and Wang, Chang and Wang, Zhining and West, Bedford L. and Wilmer, Alex and Wilson, Shane and Wu, Kaman and Wysocki, William P. and Xiang, Linda and Yamada, Joseph T. and Yang, Liming and Yu, Christine and Yung, Christina K. and Zenklusen, Jean Claude and Zhang, Junjun and Zhang, Zhenyu and Zhao, Yuanheng and Zubair, Ariz and Staudt, Louis M. and Grossman, Robert L.} } @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 {1230, title = {A new parallel pipeline for DNA methylation analysis of long reads datasets.}, journal = {BMC bioinformatics}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar 09}, pages = {161}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is an important mechanism of epigenetic regulation in development and disease. New generation sequencers allow genome-wide measurements of the methylation status by reading short stretches of the DNA sequence (Methyl-seq). Several software tools for methylation analysis have been proposed over recent years. However, the current trend is that the new sequencers and the ones expected for an upcoming future yield sequences of increasing length, making these software tools inefficient and obsolete. RESULTS: In this paper, we propose a new software based on a strategy for methylation analysis of Methyl-seq sequencing data that requires much shorter execution times while yielding a better level of sensitivity, particularly for datasets composed of long reads. This strategy can be exported to other methylation, DNA and RNA analysis tools. CONCLUSIONS: The developed software tool achieves execution times one order of magnitude shorter than the existing tools, while yielding equal sensitivity for short reads and even better sensitivity for long reads.}, keywords = {Methyl-Seq, NGS}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-017-1574-3}, url = {http://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12859-017-1574-3}, author = {Olanda, Ricardo and P{\'e}rez, Mariano and Ordu{\~n}a, Juan M and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo} } @article {1083, title = {A New Overgrowth Syndrome is Due to Mutations in RNF125.}, journal = {Human mutation}, volume = {35}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Sep 5}, pages = {1436{\textendash}1441}, abstract = {Overgrowth syndromes (OGS) are a group of disorders in which all parameters of growth and physical development are above the mean for age and sex. We evaluated a series of 270 families from the Spanish Overgrowth Syndrome Registry with no known overgrowth syndrome. We identified one de novo deletion and three missense mutations in RNF125 in six patients from 4 families with overgrowth, macrocephaly, intellectual disability, mild hydrocephaly, hypoglycaemia and inflammatory diseases resembling Sj{\"o}gren syndrome. RNF125 encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase and is a novel gene of OGS. Our studies of the RNF125 pathway point to upregulation of RIG-I-IPS1-MDA5 and/or disruption of the PI3K-AKT and interferon signaling pathways as the putative final effectors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {NGS, prioritization, Rare Disease}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.22689}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.22689/abstract}, author = {Tenorio, Jair and Mansilla, Alicia and Valencia, Mar{\'\i}a and Mart{\'\i}nez-Glez, V{\'\i}ctor and Romanelli, Valeria and Arias, Pedro and Castrej{\'o}n, Nerea and Poletta, Fernando and Guill{\'e}n-Navarro, Encarna and Gordo, Gema and Mansilla, Elena and Garc{\'\i}a-Santiago, F{\'e} and Gonz{\'a}lez-Casado, Isabel and Vallesp{\'\i}n, Elena and Palomares, Mar{\'\i}a and Mori, Mar{\'\i}a A and Santos-Simarro, Fernando and Garc{\'\i}a-Mi{\~n}aur, Sixto and Fern{\'a}ndez, Luis and Mena, Roc{\'\i}o and Benito-Sanz, Sara and Del Pozo, Angela and Silla, Juan Carlos and Iba{\~n}ez, Kristina and L{\'o}pez-Granados, Eduardo and Mart{\'\i}n-Trujillo, Alex and Montaner, David and Heath, Karen E and Campos-Barros, Angel and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Monk, David and Ruiz-P{\'e}rez, V{\'\i}ctor L and Lapunzina, Pablo} } @article {482, title = {ngsCAT: a tool to assess the efficiency of targeted enrichment sequencing.}, journal = {Bioinformatics}, volume = {30}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun 15}, pages = {1767-8}, abstract = {

MOTIVATION: Targeted enrichment sequencing by next-generation sequencing is a common approach to interrogate specific loci or the whole exome in the human genome. The efficiency and the lack of bias in the enrichment process need to be assessed as a quality control step before performing downstream analysis of the sequence data. Tools that can report on the sensitivity, specificity, uniformity and other enrichment-specific features are needed.

RESULTS: We have implemented the next-generation sequencing data Capture Assessment Tool (ngsCAT), a tool that takes the information of the mapped reads and the coordinates of the targeted regions as input files, and generates a report with metrics and figures that allows the evaluation of the efficiency of the enrichment process. The tool can also take as input the information of two samples allowing the comparison of two different experiments.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Documentation and downloads for ngsCAT can be found at http://www.bioinfomgp.org/ngscat.

}, keywords = {Exome, Genome, Human, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Software}, issn = {1367-4811}, doi = {10.1093/bioinformatics/btu108}, author = {L{\'o}pez-Domingo, Francisco J and Florido, Javier P and Rueda, Antonio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier} } @article {1066, title = {A novel locus for a hereditary recurrent neuropathy on chromosome 21q21.}, journal = {Neuromuscular disorders : NMD}, volume = {24}, number = {8}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May 9}, pages = {660-5}, abstract = {Hereditary recurrent neuropathies are uncommon. Disorders with a known molecular basis falling within this group include hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) due to the deletion of the PMP22 gene or to mutations in this same gene, and hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy (HNA) caused by mutations in the SEPT9 gene. We report a three-generation family presenting a hereditary recurrent neuropathy without pathological changes in either PMP22 or SEPT9 genes. We performed a genome-wide mapping, which yielded a locus of 12.4Mb on chromosome 21q21. The constructed haplotype fully segregated with the disease and we found significant evidence of linkage. After mutational screening of genes located within this locus, encoding for proteins and microRNAs, as well as analysis of large deletions/insertions, we identified 71 benign polymorphisms. Our findings suggest a novel genetic locus for a recurrent hereditary neuropathy of which the molecular defect remains elusive. Our results further underscore the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of this group of neuropathies.}, issn = {1873-2364}, doi = {10.1016/j.nmd.2014.04.004}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960896614001060$\#$}, author = {Calpena, E and Mart{\'\i}nez-Rubio, D and Arpa, J and Garc{\'\i}a-Pe{\~n}as, J J and Montaner, D. and Dopazo, J. and Palau, F and Espin{\'o}s, C} } @article {490, title = {Novel RP1 mutations and a recurrent BBS1 variant explain the co-existence of two distinct retinal phenotypes in the same pedigree.}, journal = {BMC Genet}, volume = {15}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Dec 14}, pages = {143}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Molecular diagnosis of Inherited Retinal Dystrophies (IRD) has long been challenging due to the extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity present in this group of disorders. Here, we describe the clinical application of an integrated next-generation sequencing approach to determine the underlying genetic defects in a Spanish family with a provisional clinical diagnosis of autosomal recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa (arRP).

RESULTS: Exome sequencing of the index patient resulted in the identification of the homozygous BBS1 p.M390R mutation. Sanger sequencing of additional members of the family showed lack of co-segregation of the p.M390R variant in some individuals. Clinical reanalysis indicated co-ocurrence of two different phenotypes in the same family: Bardet-Biedl syndrome in the individual harboring the BBS1 mutation and non-syndromic arRP in extended family members. To identify possible causative mutations underlying arRP, we conducted disease-targeted gene sequencing using a panel of 26 IRD genes. The in-house custom panel was validated using 18 DNA samples known to harbor mutations in relevant genes. All variants were redetected, indicating a high mutation detection rate. This approach allowed the identification of two novel heterozygous null mutations in RP1 (c.4582_4585delATCA; p.I1528Vfs*10 and c.5962dupA; p.I1988Nfs*3) which co-segregated with the disease in arRP patients. Additionally, a mutational screening in 96 patients of our cohort with genetically unresolved IRD revealed the presence of the c.5962dupA mutation in one unrelated family.

CONCLUSIONS: The combination of molecular findings for RP1 and BBS1 genes through exome and gene panel sequencing enabled us to explain the co-existence of two different retinal phenotypes in a family. The identification of two novel variants in RP1 suggests that the use of panels containing the prevalent genes of a particular population, together with an optimized data analysis pipeline, is an efficient and cost-effective approach that can be reliably implemented into the routine diagnostic process of diverse inherited retinal disorders. Moreover, the identification of these novel variants in two unrelated families supports the relatively high prevalence of RP1 mutations in Spanish population and the role of private mutations for commonly mutated genes, while extending the mutational spectrum of RP1.

}, keywords = {Bardet-Biedl Syndrome, Base Sequence, Case-Control Studies, DNA Mutational Analysis, Eye Proteins, Genes, Recessive, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Microsatellite Repeats, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Mutation, Missense, Pedigree, Phenotype, Retina, Retinitis pigmentosa}, issn = {1471-2156}, doi = {10.1186/s12863-014-0143-2}, author = {M{\'e}ndez-Vidal, Cristina and Bravo-Gil, Nereida and Gonz{\'a}lez-del Pozo, Mar{\'\i}a and Vela-Boza, Alicia and Dopazo, Joaquin and Borrego, Salud and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo} } @article {953, title = {Novel genes detected by transcriptional profiling from whole-blood cells in patients with early onset of acute coronary syndrome: Transcriptional profiling of acute coronary syndrome.}, journal = {Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Mar 24}, abstract = {{BACKGROUND: Genome-wide expression analysis using microarrays has been used as a research strategy to discovery new biomarkers and candidate genes for a number of diseases. We aim to find new biomarkers for the prediction of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with a differentially expressed mRNA profiling approach using whole genomic expression analysis in a peripheral blood cell model from patients with early ACS. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was carried out in two phases. On phase 1 a restricted clinical criteria (ACS-Ph1}, issn = {1873-3492}, doi = {10.1016/j.cca.2013.03.011}, author = {Silbiger, Vivian N and Luchessi, Andr{\'e} D and Hirata, Ros{\'a}rio D C and Lima-Neto, L{\'\i}dio G and Cavichioli, D{\'e}bora and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Bri{\'o}n, Maria and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dos Santos, Elizabete S and Ramos, Rui F and Sampaio, Marcelo F and Armaganijan, Dikran and Sousa, Amanda G M R and Hirata, Mario H} } @article {507, title = {Novel genes detected by transcriptional profiling from whole-blood cells in patients with early onset of acute coronary syndrome.}, journal = {Clin Chim Acta}, volume = {421}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jun 05}, pages = {184-90}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide expression analysis using microarrays has been used as a research strategy to discovery new biomarkers and candidate genes for a number of diseases. We aim to find new biomarkers for the prediction of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with a differentially expressed mRNA profiling approach using whole genomic expression analysis in a peripheral blood cell model from patients with early ACS.

METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was carried out in two phases. On phase 1 a restricted clinical criteria (ACS-Ph1, n=9 and CG-Ph1, n=6) was used in order to select potential mRNA biomarkers candidates. A subsequent phase 2 study was performed using selected phase 1 markers analyzed by RT-qPCR using a larger and independent casuistic (ACS-Ph2, n=74 and CG-Ph2, n=41). A total of 549 genes were found to be differentially expressed in the first 48 h after the ACS-Ph1. Technical and biological validation further confirmed that ALOX15, AREG, BCL2A1, BCL2L1, CA1, COX7B, ECHDC3, IL18R1, IRS2, KCNE1, MMP9, MYL4 and TREML4, are differentially expressed in both phases of this study.

CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic analysis by microarray technology demonstrated differential expression during a 48 h time course suggesting a potential use of some of these genes as biomarkers for very early stages of ACS, as well as for monitoring early cardiac ischemic recovery.

}, keywords = {Acute Coronary Syndrome, Acute-Phase Proteins, Adult, biomarkers, Blood Cells, Early Diagnosis, gene expression, Gene Expression Profiling, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, RNA, Messenger, Transcriptome}, issn = {1873-3492}, doi = {10.1016/j.cca.2013.03.011}, author = {Silbiger, Vivian N and Luchessi, Andr{\'e} D and Hirata, Ros{\'a}rio D C and Lima-Neto, L{\'\i}dio G and Cavichioli, D{\'e}bora and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Bri{\'o}n, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dos Santos, Elizabete S and Ramos, Rui F and Sampaio, Marcelo F and Armaganijan, Dikran and Sousa, Amanda G M R and Hirata, Mario H} } @article {537, title = {Natural selection on functional modules, a genome-wide analysis.}, journal = {PLoS Comput Biol}, volume = {7}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Mar}, pages = {e1001093}, abstract = {

Classically, the functional consequences of natural selection over genomes have been analyzed as the compound effects of individual genes. The current paradigm for large-scale analysis of adaptation is based on the observed significant deviations of rates of individual genes from neutral evolutionary expectation. This approach, which assumed independence among genes, has not been able to identify biological functions significantly enriched in positively selected genes in individual species. Alternatively, pooling related species has enhanced the search for signatures of selection. However, grouping signatures does not allow testing for adaptive differences between species. Here we introduce the Gene-Set Selection Analysis (GSSA), a new genome-wide approach to test for evidences of natural selection on functional modules. GSSA is able to detect lineage specific evolutionary rate changes in a notable number of functional modules. For example, in nine mammal and Drosophilae genomes GSSA identifies hundreds of functional modules with significant associations to high and low rates of evolution. Many of the detected functional modules with high evolutionary rates have been previously identified as biological functions under positive selection. Notably, GSSA identifies conserved functional modules with many positively selected genes, which questions whether they are exclusively selected for fitting genomes to environmental changes. Our results agree with previous studies suggesting that adaptation requires positive selection, but not every mutation under positive selection contributes to the adaptive dynamical process of the evolution of species.

}, keywords = {Animals, Databases, Genetic, Drosophila, Genome, Insect, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Mammals, Phylogeny, Selection, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1553-7358}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001093}, author = {Serra, Fran{\c c}ois and Arbiza, Leonardo and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n} } @article {21082725, title = {N-glycosylation efficiency is determined by the distance to the C-terminus and the amino acid preceding an Asn-Ser-Thr sequon.}, journal = {Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society}, volume = {20}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jan}, pages = {179-86}, abstract = {

N-glycosylation is the most common and versatile protein modification. In eukaryotic cells, this modification is catalyzed cotranslationally by the enzyme oligosaccharyltransferase, which targets the \β-amide of the asparagine in an Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr consensus sequon (where Xaa is any amino acid but proline) in nascent proteins as they enter the endoplasmic reticulum. Because modification of the glycosylation acceptor site on membrane proteins occurs in a compartment-specific manner, the presence of glycosylation is used to indicate membrane protein topology. Moreover, glycosylation sites can be added to gain topological information. In this study, we explored the determinants of N-glycosylation with the in vitro transcription/translation of a truncated model protein in the presence of microsomes and surveyed 25,488 glycoproteins, of which 2,533 glycosylation sites had been experimentally validated. We found that glycosylation efficiency was dependent on both the distance to the C-terminus and the nature of the amino acid that preceded the consensus sequon. These findings establish a broadly applicable method for membrane protein tagging in topological studies.

}, author = {Ba{\~n}{\'o}-Polo, Manuel and Baldin, Francesca and Tamborero, Silvia and Marti-Renom, Marc A and Mingarro, Ismael} } @inbook {680, title = {New Trends in the Analysis of Functional Genomic Data}, booktitle = {Progress in Industrial Mathematics at ECMI 2006}, volume = {12}, year = {2007}, pages = {576-580}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {978-3-540-71991-5}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-540-71992-2_94}, url = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/m62p07r8111004vr/}, author = {Montaner, D. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Dopazo, J.} } @article {16845056, title = {Next station in microarray data analysis: GEPAS}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {34}, year = {2006}, note = {

Montaner, David Tarraga, Joaquin Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Burguet, Jordi Vaquerizas, Juan M Conde, Lucia Minguez, Pablo Vera, Javier Mukherjee, Sach Valls, Joan Pujana, Miguel A G Alloza, Eva Herrero, Javier Al-Shahrour, Fatima Dopazo, Joaquin Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2006 Jul 1;34(Web Server issue):W486-91.

}, pages = {W486-91}, abstract = {

The Gene Expression Profile Analysis Suite (GEPAS) has been running for more than four years. During this time it has evolved to keep pace with the new interests and trends in the still changing world of microarray data analysis. GEPAS has been designed to provide an intuitive although powerful web-based interface that offers diverse analysis options from the early step of preprocessing (normalization of Affymetrix and two-colour microarray experiments and other preprocessing options), to the final step of the functional annotation of the experiment (using Gene Ontology, pathways, PubMed abstracts etc.), and include different possibilities for clustering, gene selection, class prediction and array-comparative genomic hybridization management. GEPAS is extensively used by researchers of many countries and its records indicate an average usage rate of 400 experiments per day. The web-based pipeline for microarray gene expression data, GEPAS, is available at http://www.gepas.org.

}, keywords = {gepas, microarray data analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=16845056}, author = {Montaner, D. and Tarraga, J. and Huerta-Cepas, J. and Burguet, J. and Vaquerizas, J. M. and L. Conde and Minguez, P. and Vera, J. and Mukherjee, S. and Valls, J. and Pujana, M. A. and Alloza, E. and Herrero, J. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Dopazo, J.} } @article {15609347, title = {A novel candidate region linked to development of both pheochromocytoma and head/neck paraganglioma}, journal = {Genes Chromosomes Cancer}, volume = {42}, number = {3}, year = {2005}, note = {Cascon, Alberto Ruiz-Llorente, Sergio Rodriguez-Perales, Sandra Honrado, Emiliano Martinez-Ramirez, Angel Leton, Rocio Montero-Conde, Cristina Benitez, Javier Dopazo, Joaquin Cigudosa, Juan C Robledo, Mercedes Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Genes, chromosomes \& cancer Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2005 Mar;42(3):260-8.}, pages = {260-8}, abstract = {Although the histologic distinction between pheochromocytomas and head and neck paragangliomas is clear, little is known about the genetic differences between them. To date, various sets of genes have been found to be involved in inherited susceptibility to developing both tumor types, but the genes involved in sporadic pathogenesis are still unknown. To define new candidate regions, we performed CGH analysis on 29 pheochromocytomas and on 24 paragangliomas mainly of head and neck origin (20 of 24), which allowed us to differentiate between the two tumor types. Loss of 3q was significantly more frequent in pheochromocytomas, and loss of 1q appeared only in paragangliomas. We also found gain of 11q13 to be a significantly frequent alteration in malignant cases of both types. In addition, recurrent loss of 8p22-23 was found in 62\% of pheochromocytomas (including all malignant cases) versus in 33\% of paragangliomas, suggesting that this region contains candidate genes involved in the pathogenesis of this abnormality. Using FISH analysis on tissue microarrays, we confirmed genomic deletion of this region in 55\% of pheochromocytomas compared to 12\% of paragangliomas. Loss of 8p22-23 appears to be an important event in the sporadic development of these tumors, and additional molecular studies are necessary to identify candidate genes in this chromosomal region.}, keywords = {80 and over Child Chromosomes, Adolescent Adrenal Gland Neoplasms/*genetics Adult Aged Aged, Biological/*genetics, Human, Pair 1/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 11/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 3/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 8/genetics Female Gene Deletion Head and Neck Neoplasms/*genetics Humans Male Middle Aged Nucleic Acid Hybridization Paraganglioma/*genetics Pheochromocytoma/*genetics Tumor Markers}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=15609347}, author = {Cascon, A. and Ruiz-Llorente, S. and Rodriguez-Perales, S. and Honrado, E. and Martinez-Ramirez, A. and Leton, R. and Montero-Conde, C. and Benitez, J. and Dopazo, J. and Cigudosa, J. C. and M. Robledo} } @article {15215434, title = {New challenges in gene expression data analysis and the extended GEPAS}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {32}, year = {2004}, note = {

Herrero, Javier Vaquerizas, Juan M Al-Shahrour, Fatima Conde, Lucia Mateos, Alvaro Diaz-Uriarte, Javier Santoyo Ramon Dopazo, Joaquin England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Jul 1;32(Web Server issue):W485-91.

}, pages = {W485-91}, abstract = {

Since the first papers published in the late nineties, including, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of microarray data, the number of questions that have been addressed through this technique have both increased and diversified. Initially, interest focussed on genes coexpressing across sets of experimental conditions, implying, essentially, the use of clustering techniques. Recently, however, interest has focussed more on finding genes differentially expressed among distinct classes of experiments, or correlated to diverse clinical outcomes, as well as in building predictors. In addition to this, the availability of accurate genomic data and the recent implementation of CGH arrays has made mapping expression and genomic data on the chromosomes possible. There is also a clear demand for methods that allow the automatic transfer of biological information to the results of microarray experiments. Different initiatives, such as the Gene Ontology (GO) consortium, pathways databases, protein functional motifs, etc., provide curated annotations for genes. Whereas many resources on the web focus mainly on clustering methods, GEPAS has evolved to cope with the aforementioned new challenges that have recently arisen in the field of microarray data analysis. The web-based pipeline for microarray gene expression data, GEPAS, is available at http://gepas.bioinfo.cnio.es.

}, keywords = {gepas, microarray data analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=15215434}, author = {Herrero, J. and Vaquerizas, J. M. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and L. Conde and A. Mateos and Diaz-Uriarte, J. S. and Dopazo, J.} }