The Chinese Government will substantially promote international research into human proteins.
China has decided to invest 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million) in the next two years to support the Human Liver Proteome Project (HLPP), said Li Xueyong, vice-minister of science and technology. The ultimate goal is to find a cure for hepatitis and help international efforts to map human proteins.
Following the success of the Human Genome Project, in which co-ordinated efforts around the world helped to map the human gene, the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) plans to map the many proteins in the body or proteome.
HUPO was established in 2001. The third HUPO Annual Congress started yesterday in Beijing.
Scientists say the Chinese Govern-ment's investment is one of the largest among the participating countries.
Sun Qihong, assistant to the HLPP chair, said that if the initial project leads to successful diagnosis of liver diseases, the Chinese Government may allot another 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) to the project between 2007 and 2010.
"Protein research has become more and more international, and the Chinese Government will support Chinese scientists to participate in the research worldwide," said Li.
More than 1,500 delegates from all over the world participated in the congress.
John Bergeron, chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Montreal-based McGill University and president of HUPO, said that HGP has sequenced 99.99 percent of human genes, but it is not enough to find enough new drugs and therapies, because 90 percent of human diseases affect proteins more than genes.
"With the deepening of proteomic research, scientists may have 10 times more chances to find new drugs related to human diseases," Bergeron said.
Chinese scientists launched the HLPP research late last year. The project will map all human liver proteins and try to develop new drugs to treat hepatitis, which affects more than 100 million Chinese.
Chinese scientists have underta-ken 20 percent of HUPO work, compared to 1 percent in the genome project.
(China Daily October 26, 2004)
