Extraction of spectral biomarkers of ANCA-associated vasculitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Extraction of spectral biomarkers of ANCA-associated vasculitis applying vibrational biospectroscopy with multivariate analysis
IRAS ID
246059
Contact name
Adam Morris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NIHR Lancashire Clinical Research Facility
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
Vasculitis describes a rare group of disorders where the immune system is inappropriately activated and attacks blood vessels. This results in inflammation and injury to the blood vessels, which can damage the part of the body being supplied by them. ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a type of vasculitis that mainly affects small blood vessels. This can result in severe multi-organ disease and the kidneys are commonly affected. Treatment centres around immunosuppression whereby medications are used to lower the activity of the body’s immune system. Subsequently, infection is a significant potential risk of treatment.
Currently a reliable and non-invasive measure of disease activity is lacking, presenting a challenge when deciding the intensity and duration of treatment. Molecular vibrational biospectroscopy is a non-invasive and non-destructive method of analysing samples based on their chemical composition and structure. This research study aims to determine if molecular vibrational biospectroscopy can be used as a fast, robust and reliable method of monitoring disease activity in AAV. This addresses an unmet need in the field of kidney medicine and could enable risk stratification and individualisation of treatment; mitigating some of the risks of potential over immunosuppression or under treated disease.
Specific aims are to apply molecular vibrational spectroscopy to urine and blood samples to determine if i) molecular vibrational biospectroscopy be used to differentiate patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis from healthy individuals and those with other causes of renal impairment, ii) differentiate patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis in remission from those with relapsing or progressive disease activity and iii) aid diagnosis in ANCA negative disease. These aims will be met by correlating clinical and histological features of disease activity with the spectral fingerprint attained from urine and blood samples of patients with AAV and a control group comprised of healthy individuals and those with other common aetiologies of renal impairment.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EE/0194
Date of REC Opinion
17 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion