[SNP database and establishment of personalized medicine]

We are aiming to identify susceptibility genes for common or otherwise clinically relevant diseases of metabolism such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, and analyze the molecular causality. Although genetic and environmental factors play equally crucial roles in the pathogenesis of the common diseases of civilization, genetic factor is directly involved in the causality and molecular mechanism. The elucidation of molecular etiology provides specific molecular targets for therapeutic drugs even at the individual level. Thus our priority is analysis of the molecular causality of the common metabolic disorders of civilization. We will identify individual and group polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genome relevant to the treatment of individual patients closely related to susceptibility to disease, prognosis of disease, and responses to drugs. To determine the genetic susceptibilities, we apply genetic approaches such as linkage studies with affected sib-pairs and association studies using SNPs database together with haplotype analysis.