Lung mycobiota in patients with cystic fibrosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Examination of the fungi (mycobiota) in the airways of people with cystic fibrosis, serological responses and correlation with treatment outcome in patients with infection.
IRAS ID
225601
Contact name
Richard Barton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Faculty Head of Research and Innovation Support
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at high risk of chronic respiratory infections due to bacteria and fungi. Infection is associated with increased mortality and reduced quality of life. The diagnosis of active fungal infection can be difficult to differentiate from simple colonisation due to the lack of discriminatory biomarkers. Inhaled fungi frequently colonise the lungs of subjects with CF and can be detected in the sputum by culture plates. However, these culture plates may not be detecting all of the fungi present in the sputum sample, only those that can grow easily. Furthermore, the fungi grown from sputum samples may not be causing actual infection but just be colonising or transiently present in the airways. Our study aims to compare two methods of detecting fungi in the sputum of people with CF attending the Leeds CF unit, by culture and by a method which detects the DNA of fungi (the mycobiome). We then plan to examine how the presence of a certain type of fungus in the sputum called Aspergillus correlates with the body's response to the fungus by detecting antibodies to Aspergillus as this is believed to correlate with active infection. Finally we aim to look at the clinical response following routine treatment of fungal infections. We will correlate treatment response with sputum culture, antibody results and clinical parameters undertaken during routine clinical practice. In this way we hope to be able to improve the diagnosis of fungal infection, particularly Aspergillus infection, in a way that directly corresponds with improved outcomes in infected patients.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1009
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion