- Landmark work
- Future generations
- Infections and heart attack
- Family heart study
- Grant programme
Family heart study
Introduction
Heart disease tends to run in families. In 2001, the BHF set up the 'Big Red Bus Tour' of 40 UK cities and towns, to recruit 2,500 families with a history of heart disease to take part in the biggest research programme ever funded by the Foundation. The aim of the study is to identify small genetic differences that might predispose individuals to suffer a heart attack.
What they found
The Family Heart Study, run by BHF-funded Professors Alastair Hall in Leeds and Nilesh Samani at Leicester University, collected blood samples from thousands of people in order to create a database of DNA. DNA contains the genetic code and small changes in the code may cause some people to be more susceptible to heart attacks than others. Using this resource, researchers have worked to identify pieces of DNA (genes) that are associated with heart disease.
The team compared DNA codes from people who have had a heart attack with codes from people who have not. To date, the programme has identified seven pieces of DNA in which the code differs between heart attack and non-heart attack patients. More detailed studies on these segments of DNA may identify genetic variations that predispose people to heart disease. This in turn may lead to new targets for drug treatments.
Impact
The BHF took the lead in funding researchers to collect DNA samples from families affected by heart disease. As well as helping UK scientists to find genetic variants that carry risk, the database is now helping to attract millions of pounds worth of research investment to find the genetic causes of heart attacks. It is an essential resource for collaborative national and international schemes that aim to unravel the basis for heritable heart and circulatory disease.
Using this database and others, a European collaboration looking at genes involved in blood clotting has been set up, as well as a Wellcome Trust-funded study using cutting-edge technology to look at 500,000 gene abnormalities to increase our understanding of major diseases, including heart disease.
Next Steps
The long-term outcome of this research is that if one member of a family has a heart attack before the age of 65, his or her family will be offered screening to identify the culprit gene(s). This will lead to specific advice on lifestyle or even specific drugs to help prevent them suffering the same fate.