Measuring neutrophil elastase in bronchiectasis and Cystic fibrosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A preliminary study to guide development of a neutrophil elastase inhibitor in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis
IRAS ID
199537
Contact name
James Chalmers
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis are caused by inflammation in the lungs. Although there are a lot of different treatments available for both diseases, none of them have been proven to “switch off” the inflammation in the lungs caused by cells called neutrophils. Several new drugs are in development that work on these cells to reduce inflammation, but before these can be tested in patients, we need to be able to identify the right patients to treat. Patients without lung inflammation caused by neutrophils will not get better if treated with such drugs and might suffer with side effects. So we need to be able to give the right treatment to the right patient.
We also want to examine if by blocking elastase, an enzyme that neutrophils make, will reverse some of the changes we see in the lungs of people with lung disease in order to give stronger evidence that this is a good treatment to develop.
In this study, we will test different ways of measuring neutrophil elastase in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis to find out which method of measuring lung elastase is most accurate. By finding the best test, we will know which test to use in future to decide which patients to treat. We will take samples of blood and sputum to isolate neutrophils and test whether they become more effective at killing bacteria after treatment with a neutrophil elastase inhibitor drug in the laboratory.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
16/ES/0047
Date of REC Opinion
4 May 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion