Collect DNA from 10,000 Walloons to establish risk criteria for breast cancer and other diseases.

The project is included in MedResyst (Network and Systems Medicine) and is supported by FEDER and Wallonia. Its budget is $1.8 million over two years.

We ask for the consent of ordinary patients

To be able to identify markers that indicate potential future disease, the entire team collects DNA from patients who give informed consent to the researchers. “These are patients hospitalized or attending CHU.“, comments Dr. Sophie Viejean, Clinical Coordinator.

Two coordinators meet with patients, present their project and ask if they would be willing to donate an additional bottle for the study during the blood test and also fill out questionnaires. “Our success rate is about one in two. But when I talk about this with my Crohn’s patients, they say 100% yes.“

What profiles are you looking for? Ideally, patients are not too young. “For example, to establish a risk estimate for breast cancer, we need 300 patients who have had cancer and 300 patients who have not.” Using blood or saliva, DNA is extracted and then extrapolated to provide an overview of a person’s genome and therefore all of their genetic information. Genotyping costs 90 euros per person.

Establish polygenic risk scores

Once there are 10,000 different DNAs in ENSEMBLE, the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence will allow us to identify polygenic risks, which are called this, because many risks are involved in the appearance of the disease,”in addition to the environmental factor and the bad luck factor– adds Professor Louis.

In this way, in the future, the patient will be able to find out whether she has a high or low risk of breast cancer and begin screening at a more or less advanced age, with more or less frequent frequency. The same goes for prostate cancer, heart attack risk, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic kidney failure, etc.

And if older people take part in providing clues to risk indicators, the information obtained can be used to help young people not develop these diseases, or to detect them very early so as not to develop complications… Get well quickly enough investment of 90 euros into genotyping!

The goal is to have 10,000 DNAs by June 2025, then 100,000, 500,000 and expand coverage to the whole of Wallonia. “It is important that the academic community establishes these assessments. We don’t want private firms to have the tools and make us pay for them.– adds Professor Louis.

Lots of ethical issues

»The desire is to have a controlled tool to provide a service to the patient, while still maintaining freedom of choice.“, explains Benoit Petre, public health specialist.

The 10,000 guinea pigs involved in developing the assessment tool will not initially have access to their information, but the study includes a clause allowing it to be shared with them later. Knowing your risk assessment for various diseases allows you to tailor your lifestyle or your screenings. “But we must evaluate what the burden of this knowledge, the anxiety, is in relation to the benefit.Mr. Petre said. Most patients still say they “prefer to know.”

However, beyond individual cases, this new tool will be able to better provide prevention in Wallonia at a more general level. “Belgium is at the forefront of curative medicine, but poor in prevention. We can improve this,” concludes Professor Louis.

83 pathologies with calibrated PRS

The Risk Score (PRS) allows you to predict certain types of cancer (colon, lung, pancreas), Parkinson’s disease, depression, septic shock, allergies… a total of 83 possible pathologies.

The CHU patient population is predominantly white and Caucasian. There is a desire to recruit from health centers frequented by other ethnic groups.

You can take part in the study even without being shadowed at the University Hospital by contacting ensemble@uliege.be or calling 04 323 65 43.