Aplicaciones clínicas de la herramienta CRISPR-Cas / Clinical Applications of the CRISPR-Cas Tool

Resumen El desarrollo de tecnologías para la edición del genoma ha abierto la posibilidad de apuntar directamente y modificar secuencias genómicas en casi todo tipo de células eucariotas. La edición del genoma ha ampliado nuestra capacidad para dilucidar la contribución de la genética a las enfermedades al promover la creación de modelos celulares y animales más precisos de procesos patológicos y ha comenzado a mostrar su potencial en una variedad de campos, que van desde la investigación básica hasta la biotecnología aplicada y biomédica. Entre estas tecnologías, el uso de las repeticiones palindrómicas cortas agrupadas regularmente espaciadas ha acelerado, en gran medida, el progreso de la edición de genes desde el concepto hasta la práctica clínica, generando, además, interés debido, no solo a su precisión y eficiencia, sino también a la rapidez y a los costos necesarios para su implementación en comparación con otras tecnologías de edición genómica. En esta revisión se presenta información recabada de publicaciones indexadas en la base de datos PubMed que se encontraron mediante el uso de palabras claves asociadas con la tecnología y que se filtraron para retener solo aquellas con evidencias de avances clínicamente relevantes y que permiten demostrar algunas de las aplicaciones que tiene esta tecnología en la investigación, pronóstico y tratamiento de enfermedades genéticas, cardiovasculares, virales, entre otras; esto con el objetivo de dar a conocer la situación actual de los avances en aplicaciones clínicas de la herramienta CRISPR-Cas y fomentar aún más la investigación en esta tecnología, la cual, tal como se evidencia a lo largo de esta revisión, posee una gran versatilidad y un amplio rango de aplicaciones, lo que ofrece una enorme oportunidad en el campo de la medicina genómica, pero que, a su vez, requiere un mayor fomento en su investigación para mejorar la tecnología y acercarla aún más a consolidar aplicaciones clínicas de uso seguro, confiable y consistente.

Abstract The development of genome editing technologies has opened up the possibility of directly targeting and modifying genomic sequences in almost all types of eukaryotic cells. Genome editing has expanded our ability to elucidate the contribution of genetics to disease by promoting the creation of more precise cellular and animal models of disease processes and has begun to show its potential in a variety of fields, ranging from basic research to applied and biomedical biotechnology. Among these technologies, the use of clustered regularly spaced short palindromic repeats have greatly accelerated the progress of gene editing from concept to clinical practice, further generating interest due not only to its precision and efficiency, but also to the speed and costs required for its implementation compared to other genomic editing methods. This review presents information collected from indexed publications in the PubMed database that were found by using keywords associated with the technology and filtered to retain only those with evidence of clinically relevant advances that demonstrate some of the applications that this technology has in research, prognosis, and treatment of genetic, cardiovascular, and viral diseases, among others; this with the aim of show the current situation of advances in clinical applications of the CRISPR-Cas tool and further encourage research in this technology, which, as evidenced throughout this review, has a great versatility and a wide range of applications, which offers an enormous opportunity in the field of genomic medicine but which, in turn, requires greater support in its research to improve the technology and bring it even closer to consolidating clinical applications of safe, reliable and consistent use.

Incontinencia pigmentaria. Presentación de un caso / Incontinentia pigmenti. A case report

RESUMEN La incontinencia pigmentaria, también conocida como síndrome de Bloch-Sulzberger, es una rara genodermatosis ligada al cromosoma X, localizado en el Xq28. Afecta al sexo femenino y tiene diferentes expresiones clínicas en una misma familia. Es una enfermedad multisistémica, caracterizada por afectar de forma variable a los tejidos derivados del neuroectodermo, la piel, ojos, dientes y el sistema nervioso central. Las lesiones cutáneas son las más significativas desde el nacimiento, y la biopsia confirma el diagnóstico. Debido a la rareza de esta entidad, se presentó el caso de una lactante de un mes, con antecedente familiar de incontinencia pigmentaria, quien exhibía lesiones típicas en la piel desde la primera semana de vida, en diferentes fases, que siguen las líneas de Blaschko. Se constataron manifestaciones oculares y eosinofilia (AU).

ABSTRACT Pigmentary incontinence, also known as Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome, is a rare X chromosome-linked genodermatosis, located in Xq28. It affects the female sex and has different clinical manifestations in the same family. Ii is a multi-systemic disease characterized by affecting, in a variable way, the tissues derived from the neuroectoderm, the skin, the eyes, the teeth and the central nervous system. Skin lesions are the most significant ones since birth time, and skin biopsy confirms the diagnosis. Due to the rareness of this entity, we presented the case of a nursing female infant aged one month, with a family history of pigmentary incontinence, who presented typical lesions in the skin, since his first week of life, in different phases, following the lines of Blaschko. Ocular manifestations and eosinophilia were confirmed (AU).

Exostosis múltiple hereditaria presentación de caso / Multiple hereditary exostosis. Case report

RESUMEN La exostosis hereditaria múltiple es un trastorno autosómico dominante que se suele presentar en las dos primeras décadas de la vida. Caracterizada por el remodelado metafisaria alterado y crecimiento óseo asimétrico con acortamiento secundario de los huesos de las extremidades. Estas exostosis óseas rodeadas de cartílagos se hacen prominentes a las partes blandas, se diferencia de la enfermedad de Ollier en que esta última no es hereditaria. Se presentó el caso de una mujer de 36 años, que presentaba acortamiento de los miembros especialmente, cubito y radio, metacarpianos y metatarsianos. Su hijo de 18 años afectado también de dicha enfermedad presentaba una deformidad de Madelung asociada (acortamiento de cubito y radio con arqueamiento del radio) (AU).

ABSTRACT Multiple hereditary exostosis is an autosomal dominant disorder, usually found in the first two decades of life. It is characterized by the altered metaphyseal remodeling and asymmetric bone growth with a secondary shortening of extremities bones. These bone exostoses surrounded by cartilages become prominent to the soft parts, and are different from the Ollier disease because this last one is not hereditary. The authors present the case of a woman, aged 36 years, presenting a shortening of the members, especially ulna and radius, metacarpus and metatarsus. Her 18-years-old son was also affected by this disease, having an associated Madelug deformity (shortening of ulna and radius, and radius bowing) (AU).

Role of genetic variability in Mendelian and multifactorial diseases

The first draft of the human genome sequencing published in 2001 reported a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Given that these polymorphisms could practically represent all the variability involved in the susceptibility, protection, severity, among other aspects, of various common diseases, as well as in their response to medications, it was thought that they might be “the biomarkers of choice” in personalized genomic medicine. With the new information obtained from the sequencing of a larger number of genomes, we have understood that SNPs are only an important part of the genetic markers involved in these traits. In addition to SNPs, other variants have been identified, such as insertions/deletions (INDELs) and copy number variants (CNVs), which – in addition to classic variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) and short tandem repeats (STRs) – originate or contribute to the development of diseases. The use of these markers has served to identify regions of the genome involved in Mendelian diseases (one gene-one disease) or genes directly associated with multifactorial diseases. This review has the purpose to describe the role of STRs, VNTRs, SNPs, CNVs and INDELs in linkage and association studies and their role in Mendelian and multifactorial diseases.

Elementos de transposição: diversidade, evolução, aplicações e impacto nos genomas dos seres vivos / Transposable elements: diversity, evolution, applications and impact in the genomes of living beings

Este livro representa um projeto desafiador: o estudo de sequências genéticas repetidas que são capazes de se mover, tornando os genomas dinâmicos e flexíveis. Os elementos de transposição (TEs) têm a capacidade de se multiplicar e mudar de lugar no genoma, levar consigo genes, promover rearranjos cromossômicos e alterar a expressão de genes vizinhos. Trata-se de um dos tópicos mais instigantes na área da genética, que durante décadas não recebeu o devido reconhecimento. O livro surgiu de uma reunião de integrantes do grupo de pesquisa Elementos de Transposição como Agentes de Diversidade, do CNPq, que consideram indispensável disponibilizar a pesquisadores e estudantes informações que permitam compreender a dinâmica e a plasticidade dos genomas em decorrência da presença dos TEs. O livro não esgota as inúmeras informações e implicações decorrentes da interação genoma-TE mas propicia aos leitores o contato atualizado e a compreensão dos principais temas relacionados à estrutura e funcionamento dessas sequências genéticas móveis e sua relação com a evolução dos organismos, afirmam as organizadoras...

Deoxyribonucleic acid repair gene X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 polymorphisms and non-carcinogenic disease risk in different populations: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aims to assess a meta‑analysis of the association of X‑ray repair cross‑complementing group 1 (XRCC1) polymorphisms with the risk of various non‑carcinogenic diseases in different population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This meta‑analysis was performed by critically reviewing reveals 38 studies involving 10043 cases and 11037 controls. Among all the eligible studies, 14 focused on Arg194Trp polymorphism, 33 described the Arg399Gln and three articles investigated on Arg280His. Populations were divided into three different ethnic subgroups include Caucasians, Asians and other (Turkish and Iranian). RESULTS: Pooled results showed no correlation between Arg194Trp and non‑carcinogenic disease. There was only weak relation in the recessive (odds ratio [OR] =1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86‑1.44) model in Asian population and dominant (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.66‑1.63) model of other populations. In Arg399Gln polymorphism, there was no relation with diseases of interest generally. In the pooled analysis, there were weak relation in the dominant (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.86‑1.35) model of Asian population and quite well‑correlation with recessive (OR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.19‑1.88), dominant (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.94‑1.62), and additive (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.94‑1.62) models of other subgroup. For Arg280His, there was a weak relation only in the dominant model (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.74‑1.51). CONCLUSION: The present meta‑analysis correspondingly shows that Arg399Gln variant to be associated with increased non‑carcinogenic diseases risk through dominant and recessive modes among Iranian and Turkish population. It also suggests a trend of dominant and recessive effect of Arg280His variant in all population and its possible protective effect on non‑carcinogenic diseases.

Evaluation of computer methods for biomarker discovery on computational grids

Background: Discovering biomarkers is a fundamental step to understand and deal with genetic diseases. Methods using classic Computer Science algorithms have been adapted in order to support processing large biological data sets, aiming to find useful information to understand causing conditions of diseases such as cancer. Results: This paper describes some promising biomarker discovery methods based on several grid architectures. Each technique has some features that make it more suitable for a particular grid architecture. This matching depends on the parallelizing capabilities of the method and the resource availability in each processing/storage node. Conclusion: The study described in this paper analyzed the performance of biomarker discovery methods in different grid architectures. We find that some methods are more suited for certain grid architectures, resulting in significant performance improvement and producing more accurate results.

Proteômica: metodologias e aplicações no estudo de doenças humanas / Proteomics: methodologies and applications to the study of human diseases

A abordagem proteômica tem permitido estudos em larga escala da expressão proteica em diferentes tecidos e fluidos corporais, em condições e/ou momentos distintos. O recente progresso de metodologias nessa área tem aberto novas oportunidades para obtenção de informações relevantes sobre processos normais e anormais que ocorrem no organismo humano. No presente artigo, é feita uma revisão das principais técnicas proteômicas e de suas aplicações no estudo de doenças humanas.

Proteomic approach has allowed large-scale studies of protein expression in different tissues and body fluids in discrete conditions and/or time points. Recent advances of methodologies in this field have opened new opportunities to obtain relevant information on normal and abnormal processes occurring in the human body. In the current report, the main proteomics techniques and their application to human disease study are reviewed.

Polimorfismos reguladores y su participación en la patogenia de enfermedades complejas en la era posgenómica / Polymorphisms in gene regulatory regions and their role in the physiopathology of complex disease in the post-genomic era

El estudio de la participación de la variación genética en la predisposición a las enfermedades complejas ha cobrado nuevas dimensiones en la era genómica. Los polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido (SNP) son el tipo de variación más común entre individuos y su vinculación con enfermedades es motivo de investigación intensa. En fecha reciente, el estudio de los SNP que afectan la expresión genética (rSNP) ha suscitado mayor interés, ya que las diferencias de la expresión genética entre un sujeto y otro pueden modificar el fenotipo. El descubrimiento y caracterización funcional de los rSNP y el estudio de su frecuencia alélica representan un nuevo campo en la búsqueda de determinantes genéticos de enfermedades multifactoriales.

The genomic era is imparting a new impulse to the study of the role of genetic variation in susceptibility to disease. The most common type of genetic variation between individuals is single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). The association of SNPs with susceptibility to disease is the current focus of intense research. Recently, the study of SNPs that alter the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression (rSNP) has emerged as a promising field for understanding disease, since this type of variation can have a profound effect on human traits related to susceptibility to disease. The finding and functional characterization of biologically significant rSNPs is advancing our knowledge of genetic determinants for multifactorial disease.

Actualidades en Genética: la genética: la importancia en odontología / Updates in genetics: genetics: the importance in dentistry

La genética definitivamente está de moda. Cuando se revisan publicaciones recientes encontramos títulos como éste: "Genética - Lectura obligada para profesionales menores de 40 años o mayores que deseen seguir ejerciendo en la próxima década", que no solamente están expresando la realidad de las ciencias de la salud, sino la rapidez con que se están realizando los últimos adelantos de ella.