Queen Mary University of London

Academic Institute

OFHS240231

Variation in some parts of our genetic code can make us more likely to develop not only one but possibly even multiple diseases at the same time. We aim to understand whether this is because having one disease can cause others, or whether changes in the same gene can cause different diseases at the same time. This project will enable us to answer the following questions: 1) What is the genetic contribution to a diverse range of diseases, including diseases not studied so far? Does this differ across different groups e.g. by sex or ancestry? 2) Are there genetic changes associated with increased risk of multiple diseases? 3) Which diseases should we prioritise for new, early interventions to avoid the development of multiple other diseases in the same patient? 4) What are the molecular mechanisms underlying the increased risk of disease(s) at these regions of our genetic code? Many patients do not suffer from a single disease, but instead have multiple diseases at the same time. Researchers previously thought that accumulating multiple diseases is simply due to increased age at later stages of life, however it is now clear that multiple diseases occur much earlier and the number of people of working age with poor health due to multiple diagnoses is rising. It is currently unclear whether multiple diseases occur at the same time at random, or whether there are factors that lead to a higher risk of having a specific set of diseases even if they affect different parts of the body. We and others have recently demonstrated that the same change in a person’s DNA can be associated with a wide variety of diseases, including those that seem unrelated. In Our Future Health, we aim to study the full spectrum of genetically associated disease risk, including individuals from often marginalised groups in the UK.

We will identify molecular mechanisms that are shared across diseases with the aim to identify new opportunities for early intervention and treatment, like drug targets. The identification of shared genetic changes across many diseases also has the potential to identify patterns of disease accumulation, the order of their first appearance in a patient, and the downstream consequences. The massive scale of Our Future Health will also make it possible to study the genetic contribution to many uncommon diseases for the first time. Our research will allow us to understand the links of these understudied diseases to common disorders, such as type 2 diabetes, and also potentially identify new treatment options. We will include participants from different ancestral backgrounds, with many minority groups largely excluded in genetic studies to date. Different populations are impacted by certain conditions in different ways, including more ancestral backgrounds in our study ensures our findings are applicable to more of the population.

Public Health Research

01/05/2025

02/04/2025

TRE