Metabolic changes at end of life

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigation of biological changes in cancer towards the end of life

• IRAS ID

  337603

• Contact name

  Seamus Coyle

• Contact email

  s.coyle@liverpool.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  The overarching aim of this work is to investigate the biology of dying and develop prognostic models that predict dying. This application is a program of research we are developing with this aim.

  We collected urine from patients with advanced cancer towards the end of life from two prior studies; “Investigation of biological changes in urine in patients with advanced lung cancer: a pilot study” (IRAS project ID: 197094) and “Changes in fat content towards the end of life – a feasibility study” (IRAS project ID: 259715). These studies recruited at 8 sites in the North West Coast and recruited in total 300 people. Between 2016 and 2020. These studies successfully collected urine and blood samples from people towards the end of life. We performed metabolomic analyses on the samples.

  From this work, we patented metabolites predicting the last weeks of life in lung cancer and recently published (“GC-MS Techniques Investigating Potential Biomarkers of Dying in the Last Weeks with Lung Cancer” https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/2/1591).

  We now need to:
  - further validate our work in lung cancer
  - Explore the use of our model in other cancer types
  - Explore the biology of dying from non-malignant diseases eg frailty or intensive care patients

  To do this we will:
  - recruit patients, with or without cancer,
  - recruit in different care settings (hospital, hospices, patients homes).
  - collect different bio-samples (urine, plasma, Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs)).
  - Analyse our samples using different research approaches to elucidate the biochemical pathways that change during the last weeks of life.
  - Validate our model predicting the last weeks of life from lung cancer
  - Develop other models predicting dying if needed

• REC name

  Wales REC 7

• REC reference

  24/WA/0040

• Date of REC Opinion

  4 Mar 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion