I-RACE

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Intramuscular and Inflammatory Response to Acute Exercise in Chronic Disease (I-RACE)

  • IRAS ID

    227061

  • Contact name

    Alice Smith

  • Contact email

    alice.smith@le.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    5 years, 0 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    Chronic kidney disease patients often suffer from muscle wasting and weakness which adversely impacts quality of life, physical activity, physical functioning and mortality risk.
    Low-grade inflammation is commonly cited as a potential reason for this, with increased concentrations of inflammatory molecules in blood, however we and others have also measured inflammation within in peripheral muscles of kidney patients. This may lead to degradation of muscle protein and also impair kidney disease patient’s ability to synthesize new muscle in response to damage or exercise. Additionally, exercise itself leads to an inflammatory response within muscle, which may transiently add to the existing inflammatory environment.
    Considering the important of exercise in maintaining muscle mass and as part of a healthy lifestyle, it is important to determine the intramuscular immune response to exercise in kidney disease patients.
    The inflammatory molecules present in muscle may be derived from muscle cells but also immune cells found at low concentrations in resting muscle, but increase following exercise. The inflammatory environment seen in kidney disease may increase the number or alter the functioning of these cells. However, the immune cell population in kidney patients has not be investigated before.
    With this in mind, I-RACE aims to A. explore kidney patient experiences of muscle problems and B. assess the immune cell population and inflammation in muscle of kidney disease patients at rest and in response to a single bout of exercise, and compare this to healthy controls.
    This research will provide novel information of the effect of chronic kidney disease on intramuscular inflammation and the effect of exercise. This will help us to better understand why kidney patients suffer from muscle problems, weakness and tiredness and help us to find ways to prevent these problems.

  • REC name

    East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    17/EM/0357

  • Date of REC Opinion

    21 Oct 2017

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion