Scientists have created a genetic atlas of proteins found in the blood that could be used to dig into disease biology and scour for information about drugs. Here’s what Adam Butterworth of the University of Cambridge told me about the work, which was supported by Merck and published in Nature.
How did you create this atlas?
We collected DNA and blood samples from 3,300 people and sent them to a protein company with a platform that measures 3,500 different proteins. We took the DNA and measured millions of genetic variants. We correlated each variant against the protein levels, looking only at the ones that were extremely significant. We found 2,000 different associations between protein levels and bits of the human genome.
How could that be used?
All of the data is being made publicly available. And we’ve been able to take what’s already known about bits of the genome linked to disease, use what’s in the atlas about the proteins associated with those areas, and then infer some of the proteins that might cause diseases. We’re also trying to link this data to drug databases to make observations, [like whether] a drug targeting a protein involved in one disease might also be able to target another disease.
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