Peripheral HemoPhagocytosis (PHP) in COVID disease: PHP COVID study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Peripheral HemoPhagocytosis (PHP) in COVID disease: PHP COVID study
IRAS ID
286674
Contact name
Jeronimo Moreno Cuesta
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
COVID-19 disease causes an inflammation in the body that resembles a known condition (HLH) that affects the defences of the body. Macrophages are a group of blood cells in this condition that play a very important role in the inflammatory cascade that is life-threatening. When the macrophages are activated by the inflammation they start eating normal cells and become a different type of cell called hemophagocytes. The identification of these cells is difficult because the current techniques are invasive ( taking a sample from the very inner part of the bone, called bone marrow biopsy) or not very sensitive such as an ordinary light microscopy.
We plan to develop a procedure to identify the hemophagocytes in a blood sample taken from patients, filtering it through a special filter with the aim of enriching the hemophagocytes so that they can be seen by ordinary light microscopy. We will compare two methods: Our method using the special filter and light microscopy and the usual method that just uses an extension of blood in a crystal under light microscopy. If we are successful in better visualization of these cells, we can examine suggestions that they are diagnostic markers of inflammatory severity that could become life-threatening in critically ill patients, including those with COVID-19. This could lead to improved treatment in the future for these patients.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/1296
Date of REC Opinion
17 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion