The UK Biobank has launched the largest and most comprehensive study into blood proteins to date, with the hope that it will transform research into new tests, biomarkers, and treatments for disease.
The Human Proteome Study will allow researchers to better understand how genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environment influences disease through changes in circulating protein levels.
It is set to revolutionize diagnostics and drug discovery and is one of the largest biotech research collaborations to date.
The game-changing study represents a major step forward in the ongoing revolution in the field of proteomics, maintained Chris Whelan, director of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Pharma Proteomics project lead.
“It will unequivocally, by far, represent the largest proteomics study ever conducted so we anticipate that this will have transformative effects for healthcare and for drug development by the end of the decade,” he said.
“Proteomics provides an incredibly detailed snapshot of health,” added UK Biobank chief scientist and professor Naomi Allen, PhD.
“This new frontier of science can unveil how genetics and external factors—like diet, exercise and climate—interact, and will help to pinpoint the key causes of diseases and identify drug targets.”
The study will result in the only dataset in the world that includes information on genetics, circulating proteins, lifestyle, environment, and disease.
Through this, it will enable a better understanding over the mechanisms through with diseases develop.
The project aims to measure 5400 protein markers across 600,000 samples taken from half a million UK Biobank volunteers, with a second sample taken from 100,000 of these participants up to 15 years later.
This will enable researchers to create the first database of its kind, showing how changing levels of proteins in mid-to-late life can influence diseases and is likely to transform research into new medical tests, drugs, and treatments.
The study will first analyze 300,000 blood samples, including those from 250,000 UK Biobank volunteers and 50,000 second samples taken at later assessments.
It follows on from a pilot project, already then the largest study of its kind, which released data in October 2023 on nearly 3000 circulating proteins from 54,000 UK Biobank participants.
That pilot study, published in the journal Nature, led to research that identified over 14,000 links between common genetic variants and altered protein levels, more than 80% of which were previously unknown.
The new study multiplies this unique proteomics dataset tenfold, using Ultima’s UG 100 high-throughput sequencing platform alongside Thermo Fisher’s Olink Explore HT technology.
“For the first time at this scale, researchers will be able to detect the exact causes of diseases by comparing how protein levels change over mid-to-late life in a large group of people,” said professor Rory Collins, UK Biobank chief executive and principal investigator.
“Proteomic data has already paved the way for better cancer, autoimmune and dementia diagnostics, and this truly exciting study of proteins will significantly speed up drug discovery, leading to major improvements in public health and care everywhere.”
