Correspondence
Systems medicine and integrated care to combat chronic noncommunicable diseases
1 Department of Respiratory Diseases, Arnaud de Villeneuve Hospital, CHU Montpellier, INSERM CESP U1018, Villejuif, France
2 Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Municipal Institute of Medical Research, Epidemiologıa y Salud Publica, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Doctor Aiguader, 88, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain
3 Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
4 Cellular and Molecular Biology, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
5 National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
6 Institut Clínic del Tòrax, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, CIBERES, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
7 Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, Sciences Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK
8 Epidemiology, Public Health, Risks, Chronic Diseases and Handicap, INSERM U558, Toulouse, France
9 IRCCS San Raffaele, Via della Pisana, 235, Rome, Italy
10 Institut Pasteur, Bab Bhar, Avenue Jugurtha, Tunis, 71 843 755, Tunisia
11 Division of Medical Genetics, University of Geneva Medical School, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
12 Department of Diabetology, Montpellier, France
13 Telethon Institute of Genomics and Medicine, Via Pietro Castellino, 111 80131 - Napoli, Italy
14 Department of Pediatrics, University of Padova, Padova, Giustiniani, 3 - 35128, Italy
15 Scientific Centre of Children's Health, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Lomonosovskiy prospect, 2/62, 117963, Moscow, Russia
16 Department of Dermatology and Allergy, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany
17 Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, CNRS, UMR 5203, INSERM, U661, Université Montpellier 1 and 2, Montpellier, France
18 Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Near Jubilee Hall, Mall Road, Delhi-110 007, New Delhi, India
19 Pulmonary Division, Albert Michallon University Hospital, Albert Bonniot Cancer Research Institute, La Tronche, Grenoble, France
20 Endocrine Diseases, Lapeyronie Hospital, Montpellier, France
21 Department of Physiology, Nîmes University Hospital, Place du Professeur Robert Debré 30029 Nîmes Cedex 9, France
22 Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, Nobels väg 16, KI Solna Campus, Box 280, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
23 Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, University of Modena and Regio Emilia, Modena, Italy
24 Imperial College London, London, UK
25 Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, 401 Terry Avenue, North Seattle, WA 98109-5234, USA
26 National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan
27 Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Level 6, 70 Symonds Street Auckland, 1010. New Zealand
28 Clinical Unit for Osteoarticular Diseases, and INSERM U844, Montpellier, France
29 Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, INSERM U1018, Villejuif, France
30 Singapore Immunology Network, 8A Biomedical Grove, Level 4 Immunos Building, 138648 Singapore
31 Medical University of Lodz, Poland
32 Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, P.O. Box 26 Rehovot 76100, Israel
33 Health Economy and Management, Paris-Dauphine University, Paris, France
34 Biotechnology and Biotherapy, IRCM, Paris, France
35 Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, South Africa
36 Department of Physiology, Montpellier University, and INSERM U1046, France
37 The Estonian Genome Center of University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
38 Epsylon, Montpellier, France
39 Department of Physiology, University of Oxford, Le Gros Clark Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QX, UK
40 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bilkent University, Faculty of Science, B Building, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
41 European Patient's Forum (EPF) and European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Associations (EFA), Brussels, Belgium
42 Department of Medicine, University of Kiel, Germany
43 Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin, 1100 Delaplaine Ct.Madison, WI 53715-1896, USA
44 Department of Public Health, AL. JEROZOLIMSKIE 87, 02-001 Warsaw, Poland
45 Departments of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and of Medicine, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Rm. 2C12, L8S 4K1 Hamilton, ON, Canada
46 Institute of Pharmacology, University of Bern, Friedbühlstrasse 49, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
47 Cancer Biology and Epigenomics Program, Children's Memorial Research Center and Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA
48 Research Centre for Molecular Medicine, Lazarettgasse 14, AKH BT 25.3, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
49 Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Solna, SE 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
50 Institute of Chemistry, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
51 The Hamilton Institute, Maynooth, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
52 Department of Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Rostock, 18051 Rostock, Germany
53 Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
54 Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162a, avenue de la Faiencerie, L-1511, Luxembourg
55 Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Adrian Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
56 European Institute for Systems Biology and Medicine, HLA and Medicine, Jean Dausset Laboratory, St Louis Hospital, INSERM U940, Paris, France
57 European Institute for Systems Biology and Medicine, Pulmonary Division, Albert Michallon University Hospital, La Tronche, France
58 Fundamental and Applied Bioenergetics, INSERM U1055, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France
59 Centre for Systems Biomedicine, Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai, China
60 European Institute for Systems Biology and Medicine, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France
61 Functional Genomics and Systems Biology for Health, CNRS Institute of Biological Sciences,Villejuif, France
Genome Medicine 2011, 3:43 doi:10.1186/gm259
Published: 6 July 2011Abstract
We propose an innovative, integrated, cost-effective health system to combat major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular, chronic respiratory, metabolic, rheumatologic and neurologic disorders and cancers, which together are the predominant health problem of the 21st century. This proposed holistic strategy involves comprehensive patient-centered integrated care and multi-scale, multi-modal and multi-level systems approaches to tackle NCDs as a common group of diseases. Rather than studying each disease individually, it will take into account their intertwined gene-environment, socio-economic interactions and co-morbidities that lead to individual-specific complex phenotypes. It will implement a road map for predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory (P4) medicine based on a robust and extensive knowledge management infrastructure that contains individual patient information. It will be supported by strategic partnerships involving all stakeholders, including general practitioners associated with patient-centered care. This systems medicine strategy, which will take a holistic approach to disease, is designed to allow the results to be used globally, taking into account the needs and specificities of local economies and health systems.
