{"id":22812,"date":"2016-01-24T17:32:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T17:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/01\/24\/va-blood-biobank-to-play-major-role-in-conquering-diseases\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:57:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:57:49","slug":"va-blood-biobank-to-play-major-role-in-conquering-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2016\/01\/24\/va-blood-biobank-to-play-major-role-in-conquering-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"VA blood biobank to play major role in conquering diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly a half million veterans have rolled up their sleeves for science as the Veterans Affairs Department shoots to build the largest blood repository in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA&#8217;s Boston-based Million Veterans Program\u00a0is advancing the research on\u00a0DNA mapping\u00a0to better understand genetic markers linked to illnesses such as cancers, heart\u00a0disease, post-traumatic stress and mental health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to VA officials, the department is collecting the blood samples and medical histories of donors and feeding the information\u00a0into a vast database to be used by civilian, academic and government researchers across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We are creating a massive central resource, and the investigators will come to us,&#8221; Million Veterans Program\u00a0principal investigator Dr. J. Michael Gaziano explained. &#8220;We already are running some test cases to learn how to build the computing environment that allows researchers to come together and use this\u00a0resource.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 440,000 veterans already have furnished\u00a0blood to the program. Earlier\u00a0this month,\u00a0VA Secretary Bob\u00a0McDonald, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York,\u00a0who served in the Army for five years, became the 441,196th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;To me, the Million Veteran Program is one of our premier research programs,&#8221; McDonald said after his\u00a0blood draw. &#8220;It&#8217;s fundamental to the precision medicine initiative that the president has been leading.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Precision medicine is the field of medical treatment tailored to a patient&#8217;s condition, DNA makeup, environment and overall health. Experts believe advances in such personalized care will lead to more effective treatments for\u00a0disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his State of the Union address on Jan. 12, President Obama called for $215 million in funding for the Precision Medicine Initiative, including $70 million toward a cancer research &#8220;moon shot&#8221; \u2014 an effort to cure cancer within a decade, much as the United States put a man on the moon just eight\u00a0years after President Kennedy announced the intention to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Million Veterans Program will be a part of the cancer and disease research\u00a0already\u00a0underway and in the future,\u00a0according to Gaziano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;There is the possibility to study any and all diseases. We think VA can play a valuable role,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans make excellent donors for such scientific research\u00a0because they have detailed medical records to accompany their samples, with some records\u00a0dating back 40 years, according to VA officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The medical records, along with answers to questionnaires completed by donors on their lifestyle choices and environmental exposures, including combat experience,\u00a0provide valuable context to researchers, Gaziano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA cannot simply use any patient&#8217;s blood sample for the program.\u00a0All veterans must volunteer to participate in the Million Veterans Program, agreeing to\u00a0share their medical records and experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The identities of all donors are kept secret from researchers. Samples are stored in a secure database and labeled with a code rather than a veteran&#8217;s name, and\u00a0no identifying information is attached to the data accessed by researchers,\u00a0according to the VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program already has\u00a01.8 million vials of blood components from veterans, including red blood cells, white blood cells and plasma. The biorepository currently receives about\u00a0100,000 new samples a year, and VA officials hope a\u00a0partnership with the Defense Department could increase the number of donors to reach the million-veteran\u00a0mark by 2020, Gaziano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The samples are stored at the VA&#8217;s biorepository at VA Medical Center Boston.\u00a0VA\u00a0officials are hoping to build a second storage site equipped with the same state-of-the-art system for DNA extraction\u00a0in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that would bring capacity to 4 million samples from a broad spectrum of donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When you do this type of research, you really want to have your samples spread out across the population,&#8221; Gaziano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The $130 million project already eclipses other genetic material repositories in the U.S., including Kaiser Permanente&#8217;s Research Program on Genes,\u00a0Environment\u00a0and Health, which has about 100,000 samples of saliva and blood from participating patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it is closing in on the number of samples kept by the United Kingdom&#8217;s\u00a0Biobank, a repository containing blood and urine samples and health data from half a million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the aim is to have 1 million stored samples,\u00a0VA is not waiting to reach that milestone before researchers access the repository database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Test projects\u00a0already underway include\u00a0studies of heart disease risk factors, genetic markers for schizophrenia and bipolar disease, and the risks of chronic use of alcohol, tobacco and opioid medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gaziano said the studies will help veterans and civilians alike, and he is grateful for those who decide to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The thing we hear from our veteran partners is that this is an opportunity for them to serve their brother veterans,&#8221; Gaziano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans can participate by walking in to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.research.va.gov\/mvp\/all-clinics.cfm\">VA clinic or hospital that is designated as a Million Veterans Program collection site.<\/a>\u00a0The donation takes about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to VA officials, a veteran&#8217;s participation may change the way all diseases are treated in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s really helpful to all mankind to unravel the conundrum of how genes work,&#8221; Gaziano said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><em>Patricia Kime covers military and veterans&#8217; health care and medicine for Military Times. She can be reached at pkime@militarytimes.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly a half million veterans have rolled up their sleeves for science as the Veterans Affairs Department shoots to build the largest blood repository in the 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