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18 January 2005
A new ground breaking genetic health project bringing together Scotland's five Medical Schools to assess genetic predisposition to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis and mental health is being funded by the Scottish Executive to the tune of £4.4 million. The Genetic Health Initiative (GHI) will focus on individuals and their close relatives in order to assess the genetic predisposition to these common diseases that affect thousands of people in Scotland. It will draw on comprehensive health care records, but add a genetic dimension to determine how much ill health is an inherited trait and the extent to which other factors, such as lifestyle, influence health.
The Scottish project embraces all the Scottish Medical Schools, the National e-Science Centre, the Scottish School of Primary Care and Information Services, NHS National Services Scotland. Professor Anna Dominiczak, lead investigator for the University of Glasgow, said: "This funding is great news, and will build on substantial collaborative groundwork which has been done over several years.
The initiative focuses on the health of Scottish families and builds upon Scotland's track record in epidemiology, record-linkage, quality NHS databases and genetics. It includes specific research proposals in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, mental health and pharmacogenetics, and brings together an impressive list of lead investigators and collaborators who collectively represent an unbeatable combination of proven research expertise in Scotland. This unique cross-institutional, interdisciplinary endeavour will make Scotland internationally competitive in human genetics of common complex diseases."
Professor Dominiczak will be working with senior Glasgow colleagues from General Practice, Biostatistics, Clinical Genetics, E-science, NHS Research & Development, and Public Health. The programme will link anonymous information on the lifestyle and healthcare history of participants with their genetic profile allowing the team to identify those at risk of developing disease and create preventative healthcare strategies.
Researchers will recruit a cohort of 50,000 individuals (aged 35-55years) over 5 years, with an initial cohort of 15,000 in the 3 year feasibility study. Families with groups of siblings will be invited to participate allowing researchers to establish patterns of health and disease within families. Demographic, lifestyle and clinical information will be gathered along with carefully collected information on the heart, blood vessel function and wellbeing. Blood samples will be taken for biochemical tests and the assessment of genes that contribute to disease.
Scotland has a number of key factors that will allow this research to be successful: a universal NHS number which lets researchers cross reference patients' health data; the latest in information technology that can link health records including details of prescriptions and if the patients took the drug properly; and software that will ensure that a patient can never be identified no matter how often their healthcare record is used by researchers.
£4.4 million will finance a 3 year proof of principle study. The initial study will focus on those Scottish diseases which have a major impact on public health: cardiovascular disease (including ethnicdiversity), the major mental illnesses of depression and schizophrenia as well osteoporosis - an important cause of bone fracture in our elderly population.
Professor Anna Dominiczak, who currently holds a British Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, in recognition of her services to medicine. Professor Dominiczak said she hoped her honour would help build the reputation of the new British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre scheduled to open in August.
The BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, core funded by a gift of £5M from the BHF, will provide state-of-the-art experimental and clinical facilities to further vital research into cardiovascular disease. The proximity of a clinical investigation unit to modern laboratories will greatly enhance the integration of research and clinical practice, enabling patients to benefit more rapidly from work at the cutting edge of cardiovascular research. Professor Dominiczak, who is Director of the new Centre, explained: 'The overall aim is to consolidate, on a single site, cardiovascular research effort ranging from the molecular genetic basis of cardiovascular disease through physiology, and pathophysiology to patient-centred studies.' The Centre will have a national and international impact upon areas of health and welfare that affect the entire community, bringing direct benefits in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The new building will provide the West of Scotland with a base committed to targeting and combating the many problems associated with heart disease, not least through the genetics health initiative described above.
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