World’s biggest DNA project launched
pharmafile | March 16, 2006 | News story | Research and Development | DNA, MRC, UK Biobank, Wellcome
UK Biobank, the world’s largest and most detailed study of how genes, lifestyle and environment affect risks of developing disease, has been launched.
The project aims to gather DNA samples from 500,000 volunteers aged 40-69 for its study, with the hope of throwing new light on the causes of a wide range of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
Initial funding for the project totals 61 million, and comes from the UK government, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
Biobank’s leaders say the trial could provide hugely beneficial data on the origins of disease, but critics fear the project lacks focus, and that the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Based in the North West of England, Biobank is inviting a first wave of 3,000 people to participate in the study, which collects a sample of DNA and asks participants about their current health and lifestyle.
Biobank’s principal investigator Professor Rory Collins said: “Nothing like this has been attempted before in such fine detail on such a vast scale.
“It’s been known for a long time that the risk of getting a particular disease often involves a combination of environment, lifestyle, genes – and chance – but all studies to date have had limitations, which means we still don’t have a clear picture of how these different elements interact.”
Professor Collins says the scale and detail of the project will allow the impact of multiple risk factors for diseases to be studied more closely.
Volunteers will undertake an initial assessment, and then have to agree to let UK Biobank follow their health for many years.
GeneWatch UK is a public interest group, which aims to control use of gene testing and gene technology to ensure it is used in the public interest, and is highly critical of Biobank.
GeneWatch UK’s deputy director, Dr. Helen Wallace says the project is unlikely to achieve its aims, and will give commercial companies excessive monopolies over future treatments.
“People considering donating their DNA should be aware that commercial companies are setting the research agenda and will be able to patent genes identified in the Biobank. Their focus will be on expensive drugs rather than action to prevent disease.”
Biobank says its backers are aware of the ethical concerns implicit in such a project, and that a public ethics and governance framework will be developed to ensure the project is only used for scientifically and ethically approved research.
Some UK scientists say the project will not gather enough meaningful data to assist in the development of new treatments, and fear the high cost of the project will drain funds away from other research.
Biobank has been in planning since 1999, and was singled-out by the committee of MPs as an example of financial mismanagement by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The 2003 report from the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee said Biobank was a ‘top down’ idea, and that its scientific value had not been properly balanced against other potential funding options.
Defending its record, the MRC said many of its strategic plans may not prove popular in the short-term, but could prove to be hugely beneficial in the long-term.
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