Aspirin in a model of acute lung injury in healthy volunteers

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The effect of Aspirin on REducing iNflammation in human in vivo model of Acute lung injury (ARENA)

• IRAS ID

  70314

• Contact name

  Danny Francis McAuley

• Sponsor organisation

  Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

• Eudract number

  2012-001589-13

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  NCT01659307

• Research summary

  Research Summary

  When a patient is ill, which can be due to many reasons such as pneumonia or following a road traffic accident for reasons that are unclear, their lungs may fail and fill with water making breathing difficult. This results in patients needing to be placed on ??ventilators? which are machines to assist breathing. This is termed ??acute lung injury?. This devastating chest condition is common, affects all ages, and kills many patients. In addition, even after recovery, patients have a poorer quality of life, for example many are unable to return to work. There is no preventive treatment for this condition. Aspirin has been widely used in a range of patients with a variety of clinical conditions. The normal therapeutic dose of aspirin range from low dose (75 milligram (mg) once daily) which inhibits the action of a group of cells called platelets which are thought to be important in causing lung inflammation to higher doses (3000 mg) which is known to inhibit inflammation generally. It is the anti-platelet and anti-inflammatory effect that would play a key role in treating acute lung injury. The aim is to investigate if aspirin decreases lung inflammation in volunteers who inhale a small and safe dose of an irritant that causes transient self limiting lung inflammation. If effective, the benefits of this treatment would be considerable. A study would be needed to determine if aspirin is effective in preventing and treating ALI in patients at high risk of lung injury.

  Summary of Results

  Pre-clinical studies suggest that aspirin may be beneficial in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, whether aspirin can reduce inflammation and injury in the human lung has not been investigated.
  We show that aspirin reduces pulmonary inflammation and injury. These findings support further clinical trial testing of aspirin to treat ARDS.

• REC name

  HSC REC A

• REC reference

  12/NI/0082

• Date of REC Opinion

  13 Jun 2012

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion