DocTIS showcases two studies at the Congress of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology
From May 13 to 16, 2025, Madrid hosted the 51st Congress of the Sociedad Española de Reumatología (SER), the most important annual scientific and professional gathering in rheumatology in Spain. With around 2,000 attendees, including rheumatologists, researchers, healthcare professionals, trainees, and international experts, the event served as a key platform to exchange knowledge, present research, and strengthen collaborative networks.
This year, the DocTIS project, coordinated by the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), played a prominent role at the congress through the presentation of two innovative scientific posters.
The presentations were led by Dr. Maria López Lasanta, Head of the Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Unit at Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus and researcher at the Rheumatology Research Group at VHIR. Also representing the project was Dr. Sara Marsal, Head of the Rheumatology Service at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Principal Investigator at VHIR, and Coordinator of the DocTIS project.
Poster presentations from DocTIS
At the SER Congress, DocTIS presented two studies exemplifying the project’s goal to transform the understanding and treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). Both studies leverage advanced omics technologies and systems biology to explore therapeutic responses and guide future personalized medicine strategies.
DoCTIS: A Single Cell RNA-Seq Atlas of Drug Response to Targeted Therapies
This poster introduced a large-scale single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) study of IMIDs, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis (Ps), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Researchers analysed >300 blood samples from 184 patients treated with six classes of targeted therapies, including JAK inhibitors. Samples were collected at baseline and after clinical response to monitor immune cell composition, gene expression changes, and genomic regulation activity.
Key insights:
- Identification of IMID-specific drug response signatures.
- Differences in circulating immune cell populations distinguish responders from non-responders.
- Biomarkers were identified that could help predict patient responses and personalize therapy.
- Some targeted therapies exhibited broad immunological effects, while other therapies showed more cell-specific responses.
This comprehensive cellular atlas garnered significant interest, especially for its potential to classify disease heterogeneity and guide precision treatment. There was notable attention on integrating clinical and transcriptomic data, comparing molecular profiles between genetically related diseases like Ps and PsA, and assessing molecular heterogeneity across IMIDs.
Unveiling Synergistic Drug Combinations for Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases: Insights from the DoCTIS Consortium Using Systems Biology Approaches
The second study addressed the urgent need for combination therapies in IMIDs, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, where current monotherapies often fail to induce long-term remission.
Using transcriptomic analyses (bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing) from 176 IMID patients, researchers stratified individuals by treatment response and identified gene expression signatures linked to therapy success or failure.
Major findings:
- Gene expression effects to different therapies suggest mechanistic complementarity between pairs of targeted drugs.
- Myeloid cells were identified as key players mediating treatment response.
- These findings support combining therapies as a strategy to overcome drug resistance and improve clinical outcomes.
This systems biology approach provides a rational foundation for personalized combination treatments, with potential impact on clinical protocols for complex IMIDs.
The innovative concept of exploiting mechanistic complementarity generated considerable discussion, with participants curious about clinical translation and expanding the approach to other diseases and drug classes.
Insights from the Congress on DocTIS
According to María López Lasanta, “the multi-omics and artificial intelligence approaches presented in several sessions confirm that DocTIS is aligned with the most innovative trends in current rheumatology.” She also noted that “the new strategies to define clinical-molecular subgroups in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases reinforce the relevance of the work carried out in the project”. Furthermore, she emphasized the growing interest in early treatment response and molecular predictors, especially in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases, validating the applicability of the objectives of the DoCTIS project and its results.
The involvement of DoCTIS in the SER Congress highlighted its role in advancing research through multi-omics and integrated data analysis to improve treatment outcomes for immune-mediated diseases. The event reaffirmed the project’s position in precision medicine within rheumatology and its potential for future clinical application.
