Transcriptomics in Health and Disease

Abstract

After sequencing the human genome a decade ago, researchers have continued their projects, but now to try to better understand how, and when, genes are expressed in health and disease. Efforts have been concentrated on the measurement of the expression of RNA transcripts. In an analogy to the genome, the term "transcriptome" was created to refer to the complete set of RNAs in a cell type or tissue in a particular situation. Transcriptomics is the science that studies this issue and it is a branch of functional genomics. Transcriptomics in Heath and Disease provides a comprehensive overview of the science of transcriptomics initially in health, focusing on the concept of the transcriptome and the main methods to evaluate it. The authors discuss the concept and use of gene expression signatures and transcriptional biomarkers in normal development and diseased tissues and organs. As the transcriptome changes depending on the pathology, there is also a focus on the variations in the gene expression in different diseases such as autoimmune, inflammation, cancer and infections. This book should be very useful for researchers in molecular biology focusing on gene expression, human genetics, immunology, and genomics. Part 1: Basic Principles of the Transcriptome and its Analysis -- What is the Transcriptome and how it is Evaluated? -- Transcriptome Analysis Throughout RNA-seq -- Identification of Biomarkers and Expression Signatures -- Methods for Gene Co-expression Network Visualization and Analysis -- Posttranscriptional Control During Stem Cells Differentiation -- Transcriptome Analysis During Normal Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation -- Part II: Transcriptome in Disease -- Thymus Gene Co-expression Networks: A comparative study in children with and without down syndrome -- Transcriptome Profiling in Autoimmune Diseases -- Expression of DNA Repair and Response to Oxidative Stress Genes in Diabetes Mellitus -- MicroRNAs in Cancer -- Transcriptome Profiling in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System -- Transcriptome Profiling in Experimental Inflammatory Arthritis -- Transcriptome in Human Mycoses -- Transcriptomics of the Host-pathogen Interaction in Paracoccidioidomycosis -- Dissecting Tuberculosis through Transcriptomic Studies -- Understanding chagas Disease by Genome and Transcriptome Exploration -- Expression Tests in Actual Clinical Practice: How medically useful is the transcriptome? -- Conclusions -- Index.