Date: 2012-11-14
Type of information: Initiation of development program
phase: genetic study
Announcement: initiation
Company: Medical Research Council - MRC (UK) Nottingham University (UK) Leicester University (UK)
Product: genetics relating to lung disease
Action mechanism:
Disease: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
lung diseases
Therapeutic area: Respiratory diseases - Lung diseases
Country:
Trial
details: The study is called UK BiLEVE (UK Biobank Lung Exome Variant Evaluation). It will be one of the first projects to make use of UK Biobank, the world’s largest resource of its kind. All UK Biobank participants have already had their lung function measured and given information about their smoking habits, past and present. In this study, researchers will use anonymous data from 50,000 of these participants to determine genetic variants associated with susceptibility to COPD. They will look at both rare and common single nucleotide polymorphisms (tiny variations in genes) in the participants’ DNA and the lung function of those who are heavy smokers and those who have never smoked.
Latest
news: Researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester are leading the largest ever study of the genetics relating to lung disease. The project will investigate what determines an individual’s lung health and why smoking harms the lungs of some people more than others and will use health information held by UK Biobank, a major national resource holding health information from half a million volunteers.
The study, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and also involving scientists at St George’s, University of London, is aiming to shed light on why some people are genetically more prone to suffer from lung disease, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The research aims to discover the genes which affect lung function and also those which may affect the chances of developing lung disease for both smokers and non-smokers. It will also investigate whether genes play a part in the ability, or failure, to maintain good lung health for smokers and non-smokers. The researchers will also be able to investigate genetic factors that may affect the likelihood of an individual becoming addicted to smoking.
