Multidisciplinary and translational research on rare diseases

Abstract

Hereditary diseases constitute a major group within the rare diseases that includes those caused by mutations in a single gene (monogenic) or in more than one gene (multigenic). The discovery that a certain gene is associated with the development of a disease has become a paradigm of current biomedical research with huge implications in clinical practice. Hence, molecular diagnosis based on the search for mutations in genes associated with a disease, has not only become essential to support the clinical diagnosis, but often provides diagnostic criteria that allow customized patient management. Although we have become familiar with terms like genes, Human Genome or DNA Sequencing, we often forget that the identification of a gene responsible for a disease is only the starting point of a long process whose main objectives are to establish the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology and the development of strategies to prevent or cure the disease. Here, we will review recent advances in two rare diseases, one multigenic, the atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, and the other one monogenic, the hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, to illustrate the model of multidisciplinary research that characterizes current biomedical research and how the knowledge generated in this area has been transferred to clinical practice.