Mechanisms of Overactive Bladder
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of overactive bladder
IRAS ID
121383
Contact name
Andrew Grant
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Research summary
Sufferers of overactive bladder (OAB) experience urinary urgency, often associated with urge incontinence, with detrimental effects on daytime activities and sleep at night. OAB continues to be a significant healthcare issue, and is expected to affect over 100 million people worldwide within 5 years as the global population ages. In 40-60% of cases OAB symptoms are associated with overactivity of the detrusor muscle within the bladder, and the cause of this increased activity remains unknown. Current treatments are currently based around anticholinergic medication, which can have unpleasant side-effects and often fail to cure the bladder overactivity. Thus a clearer understanding of the changes that occur within OAB will be valuable in identifying potential new targets for drug therapies to improve the quality of life of OAB sufferers.
Recent studies in OAB patients and animal models of bladder dysfunction have identified altered levels of cytokines in urine and bladder samples. These are a group of chemicals with important roles in regulating the immune system, which can also affect the behaviour of other organs, so they may cause the changes in detrusor activity seen in OAB. Similarly, changes in the amounts of ion channels present within the bladder that could affect the electrical excitability of the detrusor muscle have also been suggested as causative in OAB.
We plan to collect samples of human bladder tissue from patients with normal bladders and from patients with OAB. By quantifying and comparing the amount of different cytokines and ion channels at the mRNA and protein level in the two groups, we hope to further our understanding of the changes that occur in the bladder to cause this debilitating condition.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0846
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion