Precision medicine quest is getting a lot more ambitious

The ultimate goal of precision medicine is simple: helping people live longer and avoid disease based on detailed information about each patient.

Of course, that’s no simple task. But many scientists are working toward this goal through research projects examining how people’s genes, environments, diets, exercise routines and other social factors affect their health.

One of the latest examples is the U.S. government’s All of Us Research Program(link opens in new window), which started enrolling Americans in May and aims to gather genetic and other data from 1 million people. The Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine is driving these efforts for the American Heart Association with its My Research Legacy(link opens in new window) lifetime study and the Precision Medicine Platform. Other efforts include the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics Network(link opens in new window) and the Million Veterans Program(link opens in new window).

Such projects hold promise for preventing and treating heart disease and stroke, the two leading causes of death worldwide. The millions of Americans who have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other conditions that may lead to heart disease and stroke could benefit, said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist in Philadelphia.

“That’s why it’s very exciting,” said Musunuru, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine and genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. “The same medications are by and large given to everyone not based on genetics but just based on physician preferences – what’s worked well for them in the past. The hope of genomic medicine is [that] we can start to … really be able to personalize or tailor the medication choices for you.”

The collected data may help physicians and academics reduce cardiovascular health disparities in men and women, and in racial and ethnic minority groups, Musunuru said. He was the lead author of a recent AHA scientific statement(link opens in new window) on genomic medicine, an approach to preventing and treating diseases based on the molecular interactions of a person’s unique genes.

Heart disease and stroke cause more than 770,000 deaths every year in the U.S., and some groups are more likely to develop cardiovascular problems and the serious conditions that lead to them.

My Research Legacy is designed to help battle these conditions, allowing people to get involved by securely sharing lifestyle, genetic and health data with researchers, scientists and doctors.

“The My Research Legacy study is focused on heart and brain health,” said Jennifer Hall, chief of the AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine. “The AHA has a deep bench of affiliations, not only with institutions in the public, private, government and nonprofit sectors, but also with millions of volunteers who are keenly interested in heart and brain health.

“The exponential growth in technology and data have guided the beginning of precision medicine. Trust, education and adaptation with patients and the community to share data is the next step,” she said.

Studies examining the relationship between human genes, social factors and health aren’t new, but technological advances make it much easier and more affordable to collect genetic information and study those relationships, Musunuru said.

For example, the Human Genome Project, for which researchers mapped the entire collection of genes, cost taxpayers about $5 billion after adjusting for inflation by the time it ended in 2003.

Musunuru said he hopes adults sign up for these data-driven studies, and that they also enroll their children when possible. He said many may benefit from disease prevention and treatment breakthroughs in their lifetime.

“It’s more than just research,” he said of these efforts. “Another very important part of it is actually connecting to patients.”

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