Startup of Framingham Heart Study. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and serious illness in the United States. In 1948, the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) -- under the direction of the National Heart Institute (now known as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NHLBI) -- embarked on a novel and ambitious project in health research. At the time, little was known about the general causes of heart disease and stroke, but the death rates for CVD had been increasing steadily since the beginning of the century and had become an American epidemic. The objective of the FHS was to identify the common factors or characteristics that contribute to CVD by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of participants who had not yet developed overt symptoms of CVD or suffered a heart attack or stroke. Design of Framingham Heart Study. In 1948, the researchers recruited 5,209 men and women between the ages of 30 and 62 from the town of Framingham, Massachusetts, and began the first round of extensive physical examinations and lifestyle interviews that they would later analyze for common patterns related to CVD development. Since 1948, the subjects have returned to the study every two years for an examination consisting of a detailed medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests, and in 1971, the study enrolled a second-generation cohort -- 5,124 of the original participants' adult children and their spouses -- to participate in similar examinations. The second examination of the Offspring cohort occurred eight years after the first examination, and subsequent examinations have occurred approximately every four years thereafter. In April 2002 the Study entered a new phase: the enrollment of a third generation of participants, the grandchildren of the original cohort. The first examination of the Third Generation Study was completed in July 2005 and involved 4,095 participants. Thus, the FHS has evolved into a prospective, community-based, three generation family study. The FHS is a joint project of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and Boston University. Research Areas in the Framingham Heart Study. Over the years, careful monitoring of the FHS population has led to the identification of the major CVD risk factors -- high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity -- as well as a great deal of valuable information on the effects of related factors such as blood triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels, age, gender, and psychosocial issues. Risk factors have been identified for the major components of CVD, including coronary heart disease, stroke, intermittent claudication, and heart failure. It is also clear from research in the FHS and other studies that substantial subclinical vascular disease occurs in the blood vessels, heart and brain that precedes clinical CVD. With recent advances in technology, the FHS has enhanced its research capabilities and capitalized on its inherent resources by the conduct of high resolution imaging to detect and quantify subclinical vascular disease in the major blood vessels, heart and brain. These studies have included ultrasound studies of the heart (echocardiography) and carotid arteries, computed tomography studies of the heart and aorta, and magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brain, heart, and aorta. Although the Framingham cohort is primarily white, the importance of the major CVD risk factors identified in this group have been shown in other studies to apply almost universally among racial and ethnic groups, even though the patterns of distribution may vary from group to group. In the past half century, the Study has produced approximately 1,200 articles in leading medical journals. The concept of CVD risk factors has become an integral part of the modern medical curriculum and has led to the development of effective treatment and preventive strategies in clinical practice. In addition to research studies focused on risk factors, subclinical CVD and clinically apparent CVD, Framingham investigators have also collaborated with leading researchers from around the country and throughout the world on projects involving some of the major chronic illnesses in men and women, including dementia, osteoporosis and arthritis, nutritional deficiencies, eye diseases, hearing disorders, and chronic obstructive lung diseases. Genetic Research in the Framingham Heart Study. While pursuing the Study's established research goals, the NHLBI and the Framingham investigators has expanded its research mission into the study of genetic factors underlying CVD and other disorders. Over the past two decades, DNA has been collected from blood samples and from immortalized cell lines obtained from Original Cohort participants, members of the Offspring Cohort and the Third Generation Cohort. Several large-scale genotyping projects have been conducted in the past decade. Genome-wide linkage analysis has been conducted using genotypes of approximately 400 microsatellite markers that have been completed in over 9,300 subjects in all three generations. Analyses using microsatellite markers completed in the original cohort and offspring cohorts have resulted in over 100 publications, including many publications from the Genetics Analysis Workshop 13. Several other recent collaborative projects have completed thousands of SNP genotypes for candidate gene regions in subsets of FHS subjects with available DNA. These projects include the Cardiogenomics Program of the NHLBI's Programs for Genomics Applications, the genotyping of ~3000 SNPs in inflammation genes, and the completion of a genome-wide scan of 100,000 SNPs using the Affymetrix 100K Genechip. Framingham Cohort Phenotype Data. The phenotype database contains a vast array of phenotype information available in all three generations. These will include the quantitative measures of the major risk factors such as systolic blood pressure, total and HDL cholesterol, fasting glucose, and cigarette use, as well as anthropomorphic measures such as body mass index, biomarkers such as fibrinogen and CRP, and electrocardiography measures such as the QT interval. Many of these measures have been collected repeatedly in the original and offspring cohorts. Also included in the SHARe database will be an array of recently collected biomarkers, subclinical disease imaging measures, clinical CVD outcomes as well as an array of ancillary studies. The phenotype data is located here in the top-level study phs000007 Framingham Cohort. To view the phenotype variables collected from the Framingham Cohort, please click on the "Variables" tab above. The Framingham Cohort is utilized in the following dbGaP substudies. To view genotypes, analysis, expression data, other molecular data, and derived variables collected in these substudies, please click on the following substudies below or in the "Substudies" section of this top-level study page phs000007 Framingham Cohort. phs000342 Framingham SHARe phs000282 Framingham CARe phs000363 Framingham SABRe phs000307 Framingham Medical Resequencing phs000401 Framingham ESP Heart-GO phs000651 Framingham CHARGE-S phs000724 Framingham DNA Methylation phs001610 Framingham T2D-GENES phs002558 Framingham ADSP phs002559 Framingham BRIDGET phs002560 Framingham Cholesterol phs002611 Framingham Post-Mortem Brain Tissue phs002938 Framingham Molecular QTL The unflagging commitment of the research participants in the NHLBI FHS has made more than a half century of research success possible. For decades, the FHS has made its data and DNA widely available to qualified investigators throughout the world through the Limited Access Datasets and the FHS DNA Committee, and the SHARe database will continue that tradition by allowing access to qualified investigators who agree to the requirements of data access. With the SHARe database, we continue with an ambitious research agenda and look forward to new discoveries in the decades to come.
Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) inherited cancer predisposition syndrome is one of the most common autosomal dominant tumor predisposition syndromes in which affected individuals develop brain tumors. These low-grade glial neoplasms (pilocytic astrocytomas) typically arise in children younger than 7 years of age and are hypothesized to result from a combination of germline and acquired somatic NF1 tumor suppressor gene mutations. In this study, whole genome sequence analysis was performed on three NF1-associated pilocytic astrocytoma tumors (NF1-PA) and matched normal blood samples to establish the genomic landscape of NF1-PA. These data support the existence of multiple distinct mechanisms (mutation, LOH, and methylation) underlying somatic NF1 inactivation in NF1-PA tumors.
The Malnutrition and Enteric Disease Network (Mal-ED) Case-Control Study enrolled children in the age range 6-24 months between 2010 and 2014 in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.The aim of the study was to understand the etiology and pathogenesis of malnutrition. Children were prospectively enrolled cases defined as weight for age Z Score (WAZ) <-2 and age and neighborhood matched controls defined as WAZ>-1.This submission includes genetic and associated phenotypic data on a subset of 336 participants. More information on this project and its related projects can be found here: Studies of diarrheal susceptibility, growth, and development, in pediatric populations in Northeastern Brazil
In this study, we analyzed a series of colorectal cancers using a new sequencing technology that sequences more than 200 microsatellite regions in parallel. With this technology, we evaluated mono-, di- , tri- and tetranucleotide repeats to provide a broad spectrum of microsatellite instability (MSI) events. This deep sequencing technology provides greater than 2000X coverage and eliminates the need for PCR amplification. Because every read corresponds to a single DNA molecule, we eliminated artifacts introduced by PCR that obscured true MSI events. Also included in our analysis is a new method for detection of somatic copy number changes in 83 cancer genes, with which we can infer chromosomal instability (CIN) status.
Lupus nephritis (LN) is a severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and it occurs at a much higher rate in patients that are not of European descent. The purpose of this study is to identify genetic variants contributing to the risk of LN in a multi-ethnic cohort of SLE patients. We used a comprehensive genome-wide screen and 1244 SLE patients from 5 different ethnic groups. In genome-wide gene-based and candidate SNP analyses, we found distinct genes and pathways, and established risk SNPs associated with lupus nephritis for each ethnic group. This study represents progress in elucidating the genetic underpinnings driving LN among SLE patients of different ethnic groups.
Background : Patients operated for an early oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with clear margins have a 5-year local relapse rate of around 15%. Assessing the microscopic residual disease (MRD) remains a challenge. In a phase II prospective trial, we evaluated the tetranucleotide microsatellite instability markers in the surgical margins in T1-T2 OSCC resected with pathologically clear margins. Goal : Detect MRD in surgical margins and adapt the postoperative decision-making Details : Whole exome sequencing (WES) on early oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with clear margins, and on resection margins, 86 patients with a median follow-up of 58 months (range 30.4-83 months)
Retinal and glomerular microangiopathy, and cardiovascular disease, contribute to the morbidity and mortality observed in adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D). While the level and duration of hyperglycemia are primary factors influencing these complications, the underlying molecular mechanisms behind glucose-induced organ damage remain poorly understood. In this study, blood samples from young T1D patients at diagnosis and three years later in average were analyzed for DNA methylation using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. Significant DNA methylation changes in critical angiogenic gene loci were associated with HbA1c, a direct hallmark of chronic hyperglycemia. This finding may offer novel epigenetic insights for a better understanding of T1D complications.
The BioBank Japan (BBJ) is a biobank established in the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo to collect clinical information and biological materials (DNA and serum samples). It collected about 200 thousand participants of 47 diseases started in 2003 (BBJ 1st cohort), and 67 thousand participants of 38 diseases started in 2013 (BBJ 2nd cohort), both in collaboration with 12 medical centers through the MEXT and AMED's "The BioBank Japan Project." This project is aiming at further utilization of the materials, and clinical and genomic information managed by BBJ to contribute to precision medicine by storing, managing, and providing the materials and data, as well as identifying biomarkers associated with disease risk, prognosis, and drug sensitivity.
Diabetes is a major disease in the elderly and is responsible for increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. Recently, the relationship between microbiota and diabetes has been reported in animals and humans. In this study, blood, stool, and saliva samples were collected from examinees at the University of Tokyo Health Screening Center, and 16S rRNA and metagenomic analyses were performed to determine the variation of microbiota. Furthermore, metabolome analysis and transcriptome analysis (CAGE analysis) using blood were performed to reveal changes in host metabolites and gene expression. By comparing the host- and bacteria- derived information with the metabolic parameters, we analyzed whether microbiota can be a predictor of metabolic diseases.
Intellectual disability is a common condition that carries lifelong severe medical and developmental consequences. The causes of intellectual disability (ID) remain unknown for the majority of patients due to the extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity of this disorder. De novo mutations may play an important role in ID as most individuals with ID present as isolated cases without family history and/or clear syndromic indication. In addition, the involvement of such mutations have recently been demonstrated in a small number of individuals with ID. Here we evaluate the diagnostic potential and role of de novo mutations in a cohort of 100 patients with ID of unknown cause using family-based exome sequencing.
