Liverpool study of Respiratory Immunity in Children
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Isolation and functional characterisation of leucocyte populations responsible for airway immunity in children
IRAS ID
212223
Contact name
Paul McNamara
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Respiratory disease remains one of the most important causes of death and reduced quality of life in the developed world. Three conditions account for the vast majority of this burden in children; acute respiratory infection, asthma and cystic fibrosis. Airway inflammation and activation of the body’s immune response are features common to all three conditions.\n\nHowever, comparatively little is known about how airway immune responses are started or controlled in the lung, particularly in children. It is not understood why some children when exposed to infection have rapidly protective responses and only mild disease, whilst others develop much more severe disease. Similarly we do not understand why some children develop so called allergic responses such as asthma which can lead to reduced respiratory capacity throughout life. It has been shown both that severe airway infection early in life (particularly in infancy) is associated with later development of asthma, and that viral infection causes more severe disease for people with asthma or cystic fibrosis. How this may be prevented is not known. \n\nTo allow us to understand airway diseases better, we wish to collect and compare small samples of fluid and tissue from healthy children undergoing elective surgery and compare these samples to those from patients with respiratory disease. We also wish to use tissue normally discard after ENT surgery (adenotonsillectomy) as a source of immune cells so that we can study the body’s normal response to respiratory infection. From this we will gain a better understanding of what actually happens in the patient. This will hopefully allow us to develop improved treatment approaches. \n
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0044
Date of REC Opinion
16 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion