23 December 2004

£4.4m to discover genetic link to health

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 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 35-55 years) 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 ethnic diversity), the major mental illnesses of depression and schizophrenia as well osteoporosis - an important cause of bone fracture in our elderly population.

Jim Wallace, Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to support this vital project. In addition to the huge potential health benefits, the project provides real potential to assist our broader economic development objectives, and we will be looking to capitalise on these commercial opportunities as the project develops."

Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin said; "This investment will place Scotland at the forefront of research in this area and could potentially bring long term benefits to the Scottish people and the world at large. The work being done by GHI has the potential not only to develop novel therapies but to improve our understanding of current therapies and to improve treatment for individual patients."

"I hope that this funding will act as the catalyst to attract further investment from across the spectrum. Scottish Enterprise is working closely with the Executive to support and encourage the delivery of this project. I would like to congratulate GHI on their achievement in securing this award and also to wish them every future success with this ground-breaking project. I hope that this investment will bring long term benefits for both medicine and sciences and, most importantly for patients. It will significantly add to our understanding of complex genetic disease and how best to treat, prevent or cure it."

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 Andrew Morris, Principal Investigator of the Initiative from the University of Dundee said: "This is fantastic news. The Scotland-wide research team represents a unique collaboration not only between Universities and the NHS in Scotland, but also between world class scientists and clinical researchers. It is a great opportunity for us to define and target key factors that underpin many of the major diseases that affect the people of Scotland and ensure they receive the medications that have the greatest chance of treatment success with the lowest chance of any unwanted effects".

Professor Anna Dominiczak from 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.

Dr Blair Smith from the University of Aberdeen will co-ordinate the day to day running of the project. He said: "It's an exciting opportunity for collaboration between many different scientific and medical disciplines with great potential to modernise medical care. It's the next exciting step following the mapping of the Human Genome and will put Scotland at the forefront of medical research."

Professor David Porteous of the University of Edinburgh said 'The Genetic Healthcare Initiative is important news for the Scottish Medical Schools, the NHS in Scotland and, most important of all, the people of Scotland. By undertaking a large study of the main causes of ill health in a family setting, we expect to take an international lead in identifying the key risk factors around which new medicines can be developed and existing medicines used more effectively. The University of Edinburgh is delighted to have played a lead role in getting this onto the research agenda for Scotland. We look forward to playing our full part in what will be an ambitious, joint effort, playing to the various strengths of a large and impressive team across Scotland."

Professor Roland Wolf, Director of the Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Dundee said: "The Scottish Executive support for this project will allow a unique programme of work to be carried out aimed at understanding the factors that determine individual responses to drugs. Its visionary support for this programme could result in major benefits for the health of the Scottish population."

Consortium members are:

Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews
National e-Science Centre, Edinburgh/Glasgow
MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh
MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow
Scottish Council for Research in Education Centre, Edinburgh/Glasgow
Scottish School of Primary Care, NHS Education for Scotland, Edinburgh
Information and Statistics Division, NHS Scotland, Edinburgh.

Notes for Editors

The £4.4million budget comes equally from the Health Department and the Department of Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.

Contacts

Andrew Morris 01382 632456
Blair Smith 07766 705368 (01224) 553972.
David Porteous 0131 651 1040, 07801 055 167.
Anna Dominiczak 0141 211 2896

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk