Approved research

Dissecting predisposition and risk prediction for cardiometabolic disease, cancer and their co-occurrence: a trans-ethnic study

Lay summary

Cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cancers are two of the most importanbt causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Multiple studies have shown that prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases varies in different ethnic groups; the highest T2D morbidity is registered in populations of Asian origin. In different ethnic groups, represented in the UK Biobank, cardiometabolic disease and related conditions increase risk of various cancer types with varying impact through the lifetime; and vice versa, individuals with cancers demonstrate increased rates of cardiometabolic conditions that add negatively to their disease management. Part of metabolic syndrome, T2D is characterized by an increased blood sugar level, frequently accompanied by obesity, low physical activity and unbalanced nutrition, all risk factors for various common cancers. Additionally, genetic determinants between these two groups of diseases are shared and indicate alterations in similar biological processes. This project will use modern robust high-dimensional data analysis approaches to analyse large-scale genetic data from the UK Biobank. We will dissect shared genetic determinants of cardiometabolic traits and common cancers through genetic analysis of all well-represented ethnicities; and investigate causality and direction of the relationship between cardiometabolic traits and cancers using appropriate approaches and tools. We will dissect the predictive ability of these large data for the above diseases of high importance for the health care systems. Our project is well aligned with the UK Biobank main aim to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses, including diabetes and cancer. Elucidating shared mechanisms underlying the development of cardiometabolic outcomes and cancers biomarkers in different ethnic groups will allow identifying persons at greater cardiometabolic and cancer or their co-occurrence risk and will lead to the development of novel strategies of preventing and treatment of cardiometabolic disease, including T2D, and common malignancies. We plan to study the full cohort. The duration of the project will be 36 months.