Omics for the stratification of Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases

Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are a group of chronic diseases of unknown etiology that affect approximately 6% of the World population. They are collectively characterized by the chronic inflammation that leads to irreversible tissue damage and organ malfunction, which ends up causing a major functional disability and a significant reduction of the quality of life of patients. Despite major therapeutic advances, to date very little is known on the molecular basis of IMIDs. This not only affects the development of more efficient drugs but also strongly affects the management of these patients. Therefore, one of the current major challenges in IMIDs is the identification of molecular biomarkers that can improve patient stratification, and help the medical specialist carry out a true precision medicine. Genome-wide association studies have shown that IMIDs, not only share clinical similarities but also, the share a pervasive genetic background. Therefore, the combined analysis of IMIDs has the power to leverage the identification of biomarkers in comparison to analyzing each disease separately. In the present study we hypothesize that the combined analysis of IMIDs using high-throughput omics approaches will allow the identification of clinically useful biomarkers.