by Kathy Cravedi, NLM Office of Communications and Public Liaison
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov

Landmark Framingham Heart Study Forms Foundation of New Understanding of Diseases and Disorders

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - the nation’s medical research agency - is launching one of the most extensive collections of genetic and clinical data ever made freely available to researchers worldwide. Called SHARe (SNP Health Association Resource), the Web-based dataset enables qualified researchers to access a wealth of data from large population-based studies, starting with the landmark Framingham Heart Study. Funded by the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), SHARe will accelerate discoveries linking genes and health, thereby advancing scientists’ understanding of the causes and prevention of cardiovascular disease and other disorders.

Framingham SHARe includes data on more than 9,300 participants spanning three generations, including over 900 families, who had their DNA tested for 550,000 genetic variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs). In addition, the participants’ clinical data gathered during the study, such as test results or weight, are included. SHARe will enable researchers to relate study participants’ genetic variations with their clinical and laboratory test results. The Framingham Heart Study is funded by NHLBI in collaboration with Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health.

“The widespread availability of Framingham Heart Study data provides unprecedented opportunities to investigate the connections between genes and disease,” said Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt. “SHARe represents a major milestone in moving toward an era of personalized health care - a future in which the ways we prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems are tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup.”

Resources now available include:

• Framingham SNP Health Association Resource (SHARe), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?id=phs000007
• NIH Policy on Genome-Wide Association Studies, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/gwas/index.htm
• dbGaP (database of Genotypes and Phenotypes), http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/dbgap
• Framingham Heart Study, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/framingham/index.html
• Personalized Health Care: Opportunities, Pathways, Resources, http://www.hhs.gov/myhealthcare

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