2.1 Biological and endogenous factors

Main inclusion criteria

Identification and characterisation of endogenous factors known or suspected to be involved in the cause, risk or development of disease, conditions or ill health including

• genes and gene products, molecular, cellular and physiological structures and functions
• biological factors linked to ethnicity, age, gender, pregnancy and body weight
• endogenous biological factors or pathways involved in responses to infection or damage by external factors
• metastases, degenerative processes, regeneration and repair
• complications, reoccurrence and secondary conditions
• bioinformatics and structural studies
• development and characterisation of models

 

Advice on research activities

To be used to code all biological causes of disease including the following

• Host cell biological responses to infection
• prion/TSE aetiological studies
• ischemic preconditioning

Characterisation of pathways to identify candidates that may potentially be used as diagnostic markers should be coded as 2.1 Endogenous risks and not 4.1 Marker discovery.

Characterisation of the biological cause of psychological conditions should be coded as 2.1. However 2.3 Psychological risks can also be used if the study includes investigation of symptoms and characteristics of the psychological condition.

Awards that are focused on therapeutic development or diagnostics will often yield information about the mechanism of a disease. However, this is generally a secondary outcome and shouldn’t be coded 2.1 unless this is clearly stated as one of the primary objective of the research.

Excludes basic immune and pain responses and wound healing studies that are not linked to a specific disease/condition stimulus and normal ageing or pregnancy not linked to a condition which should be coded as 1.1 Biological normal function.

Excludes normal cell cycle and normal DNA repair and replication which should be coded as 1.1 Biological.

Official terminology

Full name of code	Short name	Unique ID
2.1 Biological and endogenous factors	2.1 Endogenous risks	HRCS_RA_2_1

 

Related external links

Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1.2 Cancer Initiation: Alterations in Chromosomes
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1.3 Cancer Initiation: Oncogenes and Tumour Suppressor Genes
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1.4 Cancer Progression and Metastasis
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 2.2 Endogenous Factors in the origin and cause of cancer
Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 2.3 Interactions of Genes and/or Genetic Polymorphisms with Exogenous and/or Endogenous Factors

Advice on health categories

Studies of normal cell cycle and DNA repair should be coded as Generic Health Relevance unless they relate to a specific cell type in which case the appropriate Health Category should be used. These studies should not be coded as Cancer or Congenital Disorders.

 

Advice on research activities

Studies of normal cell cycle and DNA repair should be coded within the 1 Underpinning code group.

 

Main inclusion criteria

• Research applicable to all diseases and conditions or to general health and well-being of individuals.
• Public health research, epidemiology and health services research that is not focused on specific conditions.
• Underpinning biological, psychosocial, economic or methodological studies that are not specific to individual diseases or conditions.

 

Advice on health categories

There are four main circumstances where the Generic Health Relevance category is most applicable:

1. Research that is relevant to all diseases and conditions or to general health and well-being.
   • For example, many studies with research activity coded as 1 Underpinning involves study of normal processes that may be relevant to all diseases and conditions e.g. cell cycle or DNA repair, developmental biology.
2. Any research that cannot be attributed to a particular disease or condition or to normal function of a specific type of cell or system, defined by the top 19 health categories.
   • e.g. Studies of wounds and healing without a specified tissue type or specifically caused by Accident or Injuries.
3. If research is judged relevant to more than five Health Categories then these should be substituted for 100% Generic Health Relevance.
4. As an additional code for studies with a disease(s)/condition(s) of focus which also has relevance to many other diseases/conditions.
   • This final circumstance has considerable scope, so additional guidance is given below.

 

Generic Health Relevance as an additional code

If the main focus of the research is directed at several specified diseases and also has implications for many other conditions, the appropriate specific Health Categories should be used as well as applying the Generic category. (Note that this does not apply to diseases that may be listed within the background information or are noted as ‘being relevant’ to the study under investigation; many awards will reference multiple conditions to provide a context for the research, but always apply coding based on the lifetime of the award – (see the coding guidance on assigning health categories.)

Examples of this use of Generic Health Relevance coding appears across the HRCS guidance, including:

• Cancer studies – Studies of the normal role of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes in a non-diseased cell may be coded as 50% Cancer and neoplasms and 50% Generic.
• Pollution – If there is no other indication of the health effects of air pollution, code 50% Respiratory for the direct effects on the lungs and 50% Generic for other effects.
• Environmental radiation – Studies of the effects of environmental radiation exposure should be coded 33.33% Cancer, 33.33% Congenital Disorders and 33.33% Generic.
• Studies where a particular condition is used as an exemplar or case study to evaluate models, services and systems may also be coded as Generic – see Case studies, exemplars and tracer conditions guidance for more details.

 

Official terminology

Full name of category	Short name	Unique ID
Generic health relevance	Generic	HRCS_HC_20GEN

 

Related external links

None.

Main inclusion criteria

Physical abnormalities and syndromes that are not associated with a single type of disease or condition including Down’s syndrome and cystic fibrosis.

 

Advice on health categories

Includes physical malformation and congenital syndromes that are associated with multiple diseases and conditions.

Excludes inherited single disease disorders (even when referred to as ‘congenital’) which should be coded under the appropriate Health Category.
 

Official terminology

Full name of category	Short name	Unique ID
Congenital	Congenital	HRCS_HC_04CON

 

Related external links

International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10 v2016) – Chapter XVII: Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)
 

Main inclusion criteria

Research that underpins investigations into the cause, development, detection, treatment and management of diseases, conditions and ill health.

 

Advice on research activities

This code group is for all types of research into ‘normal’ functions and processes in ‘healthy’ humans or systems.

Excludes research where the main aims relate to investigation of the cause, development, prevention, detection, treatment or management of a disease or condition.
 

Official terminology

Full name of code	Short name	Unique ID
1 Underpinning research	1 Underpinning	HRCS_RAG_1

 

Related external links

Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1 Biology

Summary of Underpinning sub-codes