{"id":91464,"date":"2020-12-15T12:51:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T04:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/umbi\/?page_id=91464"},"modified":"2021-01-07T16:05:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T08:05:20","slug":"prime-introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/umbi\/prime-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"PRIME Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The<\/span> PR<\/b>ecision Medicine for Diabetic <\/span>I<\/b>ndividuals: A joint <\/span>M<\/b>alaysia-UK <\/span>E<\/b>ffort (<\/span>PRIME<\/b>) research project is funded by the UK-Malaysia Joint Partnership for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) grant scheme awarded by the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Newton-Ungku Omar Fund.<\/span>\u00a0This project is a collaborative effort between the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) and the University of Dundee (UK). The principal investigators are Prof.\u00a0 Dr. Chim C Lang (University of Dundee) and Prof. Datuk Dr. A Rahman A Jamal (UMBI).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Prof. Dr. Chim C Lang
\n(Principal Investigator, University of Dundee)<\/p>\n

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Prof. Datuk Dr. Rahman Jamal
\n(Principal Investigator UMBI, UKM)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The aim:<\/b><\/p>\n

The PRIME Partnership programme aims to establish interdisciplinary expertise and build partnerships amongst physician-scientists, genetic epidemiologists, big data analysts, machine learning scientists, and policymakers to cohesively deliver multi-level strategies to augment precision medicine for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in Malaysia.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The PRIME cohort:<\/b><\/p>\n

The PRIME cohort comprises 5000 well-phenotyped T2D individuals from The Malaysian Cohort (TMC), the largest and most comprehensive population study in Malaysia. Also, TMC is a government initiative headed by Prof. Datuk Dr. A Rahman A Jamal. TMC has recruited 106,527 participants (aged between 35-70 years) from both urban and rural areas, which consist of 46% Malay, 33% Chinese, 16% Indian, 5% other.<\/p>\n

Detailed information of TMC’s participants such as demographic data, biophysical data (including blood pressure and electrocardiograms), fasting blood sugar, lipid, and renal profile are stored digitally in the TMC database. <\/span>The biospecimens (such as blood, plasma, and urine) are collected, processed, and stored in the TMC biobank. The prevalence of T2D in TMC is 16.6% (n=17,683). Also, longitudinal follow-up data are available for these T2D individuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The PRIME project will select 5000 participants with T2D from TMC database. Then, the DNA samples of T2D will be analysed for the Genome-wide genetic association study (GWAS). The GWAS aims to identify the T2D genetic profile among Malaysians. About 10% of the PRIME cohort (n=500) will be invited for a digital retinal imaging scan and some cardiovascular disease (CVD) assessments. The scan and assessments were meant to identify the at-risk individuals of T2D via phenotypic, genetic, and retinal imaging profiles. The outcome<\/span> of this study will enable the policymakers to come out with population-specific interventions, thus reduce the impact of diabetes in Malaysia.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Working Plans for the PRIME project:<\/b><\/p>\n

The PRIME project proposes <\/span>six (6) working plans (WPs) <\/b>which include:<\/p>\n

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  1. Establishment of an interdisciplinary research partnership between Dundee and Malaysia. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Establishment of the PRIME Cohort, to consolidate Malaysian’s clinical data and to compare it with Scotland’s.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Generation of Southeast Asian Haplotype via GWAS.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Retinome project.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Combinatorial analysis.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Translational and Evidence-based research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>We aim to compare the PRIME cohort to the GoDARTS<\/span>2<\/span> and INSPIRED<\/span>3<\/span> cohorts from Dundee and India, respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The preliminary\/pilot data from this study will be a <\/strong>valuable research infrastructure<\/b> for the future delivery of precision medicine for T2D in Malaysia. Also, by<\/span> working with healthcare providers throughout Malaysia, we are able to translate the research outcome clinically through the Precision Medicine Exemplars emerged from this project later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    This project will involve key Malaysian stakeholders such as T2D specialists (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norlaila Mustafa), cardiologists (Datuk Dr. Aizai from the Institut Jantung Negara<\/em> (<\/span>www.ijn.com.my<\/span><\/a>)),\u00a0 ophthalmologists (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jemaima Che Hamzah), the National Diabetes Institute (NADI, <\/span>www.diabetesmalaysia.com.my<\/span><\/a>), National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM, <\/span>www.malaysianheart.org<\/a>)<\/span>\u00a0and Clinical Research Malaysia (<\/span>https:\/\/clinicalresearch.my<\/a>)<\/span>. Together, this project is able to support translational medical research in Malaysia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    By combining clinical, retinal, and genomic information, we will demonstrate the feasibility of personalised T2D treatment in Malaysia. Our vision is to develop a low-cost and sustainable precision medicine solution for both urban and rural communities. Hopefully, it will be able to roll out in large-scale government public health programmes in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    References:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n