Using precision medicine in cardiovascular medicine

Investigators at one Pennsyvlania-based health system are laying the groundwork to use genetic information to identify a patient’s risk for specific disease and put that information in the hands of clinicians and patients to improve disease prevention.

Launched in 2007 by Geisinger Health System, the MyCode® Community Health Initiative is a precision medicine project that includes a system-wide biobank to store samples (blood, serum and DNA used for research that includes genomic analysis.  There are currently over 100,000 participants who have joined the project. The plan is to obtain genomic sequencing on them all through a research collaboration between Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania,  and the Regeneron Genomics Center (a research subsidiary of Regeneron Pharmacuetials, Inc. in Tarrytown, New York), according to Michael F. Murray, MD, director of clinical genomics for Geisinger’s  Genomic Medicine Institute.

During a session entitled “Precision Health in Cardiovascular Medicine” at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, Murray discussed Geisinger’s GenomeFIRST project that builds on the MyCode® Community Health Initiative by using DNA samples obtained from the biobank to look at the genetic code linked to familial hypercholesterolemia. The goal is to then return those results to patients and their providers once the genetic information linked to familial hypercholesterolemia are clinically confirmed.

“No one has ever done this before at this scale in the U.S. healthcare system,” he said.

Instead of starting with a patient coming in with a heart attack, stroke or high cholesterol to tailor treatment approaches, Murray and his colleagues are identifying patients at risk of high cholesterol and associated coronary artery disease and stroke based on their genetic code with the eventual aim to use this information to prevent cardiovascular events.

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