The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the US' National Institutes of Health (NIH) has expanded its collection of genetic and clinical data first made freely available to researchers worldwide last year. The collection now includes clinical and genetic information collected from three asthma research networks. In 2007, the NHLBI initiated SHARe, (SNP Health Association Resource), a web-based dataset which provides qualified researchers with free access to a wealth of data from multiple large population-based studies, starting with the Framingham Heart Study. The latest expansion of the project, called SHARe-Asthma Resource Project (SHARP), is also funded by the NHLBI.
The three clinical research networks providing data are the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP), the Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network (CARE), and the Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN) - all funded by NHLBI. For more than 10 years, these networks have been major sources of information about the best practices in asthma care, translating and developing new knowledge for patients and physicians.
SHARP data is accessed through dbGaP, or the database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/dbgap), a web-based resource for archiving and distributing data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS explore the associations between genes (genotype information) and observable traits (phenotypes), such as weight, cholesterol levels, or the presence or absence of a disease. Launched in December 2006, dbGaP was developed and is operated by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of NIH's National Library of Medicine.
Genotyping information, including data from a 1 million SNP mapping array, was generated for SHARP by Affymetrix, Inc. through a contract with NHLBI. Summary data and analyses are available to researchers with appropriate approvals. Individual-level data can be used only by authorised investigators who meet requirements for access outlined in the NIH GWAS policy (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/gwas/index.htm). Researchers are prohibited from redistributing data or trying to determine the identity of participants.
