Molecular basis of giant cell arteritis

Our research line is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of giant cell arteritis. Specifically, the main objective of our research group is to determine the genetic and epigenetic contribution to the pathogenesis of this disease by using genomic (genome-wide association studies, GWAS), epigenomic (DNA methylation and chromatin conformation analysis by ATAC-seq and ChIP-seq) and transcriptomic (RNA sequencing and single-cell RNA sequencing) approaches in cell types with a relevant role in giant cell arteritis. In addition, one of our objectives is to integrate different -omics data in order to obtain a clearer view of the molecular basis of this vasculitis as well as to characterize the functional role of the genetic variants associated with giant cell arteritis.