The National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in London, have announced a partnership to support population-based genetic studies in Africa of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart disease and cancer, as well as communicable diseases such as malaria. The studies, to be conducted by African researchers, will utilise genetic, clinical and epidemiologic screening tools that identify hereditary and non-hereditary components that contribute to the risk of illnesses.

Called the Human Heredity and Health in Africa project, or H3Africa, the effort will receive $5 million a year from the National Institutes of Health for five years starting in 2011. The National Institutes of Health has also provided $750 to begin organising the project. The Wellcome Trust will contribute at least $12 million over the next five years to H3Africa, as well as administrative support, advanced training and scientific consultation. In addition, the African Society for Human Genetics will provide in-kind support, particularly organising researchers in Africa.

"Most global health research understandably focuses on difficult infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," said Dr Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health. "But studies show the developing world increasingly suffers the same common chronic diseases as the West. We must take advantage of new research approaches, such as population studies employing genetic and environmental analyses, to understand both communicable and non-communicable disorders in these important parts of the world. What we learn in Africa about genetic variation and disease will have impacts across the globe."

Researchers selected for H3Africa funding will establish or enhance local research facilities in their home country and use genome-wide scanning and sequencing technologies to identify genetic changes that contribute to the disorder selected for study. Previous genetic research suggests that populations in Africa have greater genetic diversity than populations in Europe and Asia. Genetic variation has been shown to affect how the body responds to environmental exposures and influence the risk of an illness.

"We expect H3Africa will initiate major studies in both communicable and non-communicable diseases," said Sir Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust. "Though we don't often think of it, genes have important influences on the way an individual responds to an infection, either affecting how severely a person becomes ill or sometimes changing the way medications work to fight the infection. And we've known for years that common diseases like diabetes and hypertension run in families, clearly showing a genetic component."

Because of the greater genetic variation in African populations, compared to European or Asian populations, the project may help researchers identify rare genetic variations that may well affect patients in all parts of the world. Moreover, as new genetic factors contributing to diseases are identified, researchers may be able to use them to develop new ways to diagnose disease as well as open new pathways to treatments.

"H3Africa will be fundamentally different than previous investments in medical research in Africa," said Dr Charles N. Rotimi, Director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute. "In the past, many research projects simply took samples from Africa and conducted the studies back in Western labs. H3Africa will build the capacity for African researchers to study African populations to solve African problems and will create strong collaborations between African researchers and those in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world."

Source: National Institutes of Health