deCODE is a global leader in the discovery of genetic risk factors for common diseases. Alongside its drug development programs, deCODE is employing its breakthrough gene discoveries in a range of disease areas to develop DNA-based tests to gauge inherited risk of common diseases. We believe that such tests will become an increasingly important part of healthcare in the years ahead, and that deCODE is well positioned to take a leading role in this field.
The common diseases — including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and many cancers — occur at the interface of genes and the environment. Both inherited, and lifestyle and health factors, play a role in the disease process. For this reason, understanding inherited risk is empowering information with potentially important clinical utility. It is possible to take preventive action — through lifestyle modification or by taking medication — to minimize the likelihood of an inherited predisposition ever developing into a disease.
The key to developing such tests is the ability to identify common SNPs that confer significant risk of common diseases, and deCODE is a world leader in this field. Our population approach and resources enable us to efficiently conduct population- and genome-wide scans to find the key genetic factors involved in virtually any common disease. To date, deCODE has isolated key variations in the sequence of the human genome conferring risk of dozens of common diseases. This unmatched record of success is the result of bringing together detailed genotypic and medical data from hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants in our genetics research in Iceland and from around the world.
By mining these datasets our scientists can effectively trace the inherited components of a given disease, pinpointing key SNPs and genes near these markers that contribute to risk of the disease. deCODE is accelerating its gene discovery work through the application of genome-wide association analyses and has one of the largest Illumina SNP-chip facilities in the world. deCODE’s disease risk variants are also validated in many populations before they are integrated into the company’s tests, and the company has been instrumental in raising the scientific standards by which such markers are validated for use in testing. deCODE regularly publishes its discoveries, but only after replicating the link between a given genetic marker and risk of disease in multiple populations. Publishing also enables independent groups to analyze the role of deCODE’s markers in yet more populations around the world, providing additional third-party validation for the utility of these markers and the tests that are based upon them.
Through its CLIA-registered testing facility deCODE currently offers deCODE T2™, which detects SNPs deCODE has linked to increased likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes; deCODE AF™, which detects versions of SNPs that the company has linked to risk of atrial fibrillation; deCODE MI™, a test for increased risk of heart attack; deCODE ProCa™, a test for genetic variants linked to prostate cancer; deCODE Glaucoma™, for a major subtype of Glaucoma; and deCODE BreastCancer™, for assessing individual risk of the common forms of breast cancer.
Information on deCODE’s DNA-based reference laboratory tests for gauging risk of common diseases can be found at:
www.decodediagnostics.com
deCODEme
Building on our range of gene discoveries and genotyping capabilities, in November 2007 we launched deCODEme™, the first personal genome analysis service. deCODEme™ enables individual subscribers to have their genome analyzed with approximately one million single-letter markers (SNPs). They can then see, on their secure personal web interface, whether they carry genetic variants linked by us and others to risk of a growing list of common diseases, and to see what their genome can tell them about their ancestry and a number of other non-medical traits. deCODEme™ is regularly updated with new variants as we discover them, offering subscribers what we believe to be an unrivalled, constantly expanding view of how new discoveries in human genetics relate to them.
For more information see: www.decodeme.com.
