CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 21, No 4, July/August 2010
240
AFRICA
Cardiovascular and diabetes research in Africa to benefit from
Servier sponsorship
South African experts in the field of
cardiovascular and diabetes medicine have
recently been awarded significant support
by Servier Laboratories, South Africa, to
provide missing vital data on these condi-
tions in African communities.
Servier has contributed to three initia-
tives, one being the establishment of a cardi-
ovascular research chair in the Department
of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Cape Town. The first incum-
bent of this clinical and research chair is
Prof Karen Sliwa.
‘I hope during this tenure to focus on
both laboratory-based and clinical cardiol-
ogy research and provide novel insights
into the mechanisms of cardiovascular
conditions such as, for example, peripartum
cardiomyopathy’, said Prof Karen Sliwa,
newly appointed professor of cardiovas-
cular research and director of the Hatter
Cardiovascular Research Unit and also in
a joint appointment at the Institute for
Infectious Diseases and Molecular
Medicine, University of Cape Town.
‘Servier’s support of this joint position is
by means of an unconditional grant and this
is a very welcome development, as long-
term grants of this nature occur infrequently
in African countries and in South Africa’,
Prof Sliwa acknowledged.
Prof Sliwa is a specialist physician
and cardiologist, holding a PhD from the
University of the Witwatersrand. In addi-
tion, she is a specialist in tropical diseas-
es, having completed a diploma in tropi-
cal medicine (DTM&H) and her doctoral
thesis on Leishmanaisis at the Hadassah
University in Jerusalem, Israel.
Drawn to the Hatter Institute because
of its excellent laboratory facilities and
research and educational activities estab-
lished by Prof Lionel Opie over many years,
Prof Sliwa has also initiated a new clinic
with both the Department of Cardiology,
under Prof Patrick Commerford’s leader-
ship, and the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology, to provide a service
for women with a cardiac condition who
become pregnant and develop heart disease
during/following pregnancy.
Diabetes research benefits from
Servier support
As part of this ongoing commitment to medi-
cal research in South Africa, Servier has
funded a second prevalence and first trend
survey of diabetes among urban Africans
in South Africa. The last time a study of
this kind was undertaken was in the 1990s.
A further Servier-sponsored study will
be undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal to deter-
mine the genetic basis of diabetes among
the Zulu community and to provide essential
information on the genetic vulnerabilities
and trends in diabetes among this South
African community.
Steve Speller, CEO of Servier South
Africa stressed the importance of this
initiative. ‘From Servier’s perspective,
the support of research into diabetes and
cardiovascular disease, be it epidemiolog-
ical, clinical or laboratory based, remains
an important priority for the company. The
increased incidence of diabetes in devel-
oping countries such as South Africa has
reached almost epidemic proportions and
research is therefore not only important
to better understand how to treat diabetes,
but also to understand the magnitude of
the problem so that resources can be allo-
cated appropriately.’
Diabetes prevalence study in
urban Africans
This prevalence study was initiated as a
collaborative undertaking by UCT’s
Department of Medicine and the MRC
Research Unit for Chronic Diseases of
Lifestyle. The study is being lead by Prof
Naomi Levitt (UCT), with Dr Krisela Steyn
and co-workers from both institutions.
Data collection for this study has already
been completed from among the repre-
sentative sample of 25- to 74-year-old
urban Africans, randomly selected from the
townships of Langa, Guguletu, Crossroads,
Nyanga and Khayelitsha. More than a thou-
sand participants were examined for the
presence of diabetes and other cardiovascu-
lar risk factors.
Commenting on the relevance of this
study, Prof Levitt pointed out that there
are no available data that track the trends
in diabetes prevalence in urban South
Africans. ‘With increasing obesity and rapid
urbanisation, with its accompanying life-
style changes and increases in psychosocial
stress, diabetes is highly likely to be on the
increase in our African communities. This
Servier-sponsored study will be indicative
of prevalence changes among urban black
South Africans in other major urban settings
across the country and will provide vital
data for policymakers in Government’, Prof
Levitt stressed.
Genetic determinants of type 2
diabetes in black South Africans
A large study of the genetic basis of type 2
diabetes among black South Africans has
been initiated at the University of KwaZulu-
Natal with financial support from Servier
Laboratories, South Africa.
This is an important study as there is
currently very little data available on the
genetic polymorphisms that predispose or
protect black Africans from developing type
2 diabetes. Equally, there is not a great
deal known about genetic polymorphisms
in type 1 diabetes in black South Africans,
although Dr Fraser Pirie and co-workers
have identified a polymorphism in the TLR
3 gene which may be associated with type 1
diabetes in South Africans of Zulu descent
in KwaZulu-Natal.
1
Smaller studies of black South Africans
with type 2 diabetes have been under-
taken by Dr Pirie and colleagues to iden-
tify whether genetic variants identified in
European subjects could be detected in
Indian and African subjects ‘These studies
are small and statistically underpowered, but
have indicated that these variants present in
Caucasians are not well represented in our
African population’, Dr Pirie pointed out.
The current study will be a full genome
study of 1 500 type 2 diabetic patients and
1 500 controls from the African popula-
tion of Zulu descent in KwaZulu-Natal.
Collaboration with Oxford University will
allow this large-scale genetic study to be
done using automated genetic profiling.
‘With 3 000 samples being evaluated, we
should be able to determine which polymor-
phisms occur commonly in our population
and relate these variants/loci to the occur-
rence of type 2 diabetes, hypertension and
obesity’, Dr Pirie said.
There are similar studies being undertak-
en in Uganda with support from universities
in the UK and this will provide additional
insights on African communities. ‘We are
hoping to complete the study in the next two
to three years and provide unique data of
significant value to our South African and
African communities’, Dr Pirie concluded.
This study will provide vital data, which
is currently lacking, as to the genetic basis
of diabetes pertinent to African populations.
1. Pirie FJ, Pegoraro R, Motala AA, Rauff S,
Rom L, Govender T, Esterhuizen TM. Toll-
like receptor 3 gene polymorphisms in South
African blacks with type 1 diabetes.
Tissue
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