Microscopy of M. tuberculosis in Mediastinal Lymph Node Samples
Research type
Research Study
Full title
High-resolution 3D Microscopy Assessment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Mediastinal Lymph Node Biopsies: An Observational Case Control Study
IRAS ID
323307
Contact name
Marc Lipman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Tuberculosis (TB) kills 1.7 million people a year worldwide yet its ability to spread in the human body remains poorly understood. The causative infectious agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), often resides in lymph nodes in the central chest (mediastinum). Despite this, to the researchers’ knowledge, Mtb has never been visualised in human mediastinal lymph node tissue. When a patient is suspected of having TB and first line diagnostic tests fail, the mediastinal lymph node can be sampled by camera test (bronchoscopy) to detect Mtb infection. This service is available at Royal Free London NHS Trust, providing an opportunity for us to consent participants for samples from this procedure to be analysed for research purposes as well as routine clinical tests. Patient recruitment, sample collection, sample fixing, sample transfer and routine clinical data collection will take place at the Royal Free Hospital London. The lymph node samples will then be transferred to the Francis Crick Institute, where detailed microscopy techniques will be applied including light microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, micro-Computed Tomography and electron microscopy. These techniques will be used to explore the location of Mtb within the lymph node, what cell types the Mtb resides within and the types and formation of surrounding human cells. This is a feasibility study with the aim of recruiting 10 patients in order to determine the value of microscopy analysis in providing novel insights into the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/1759
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jan 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion