PIN study (IRAS 172458) laboratory collaboration - Netherlands
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PIN study (IRAS 172458) laboratory collaboration - Netherlands
IRAS ID
241377
Contact name
Elizabeth Miller
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Public Health England
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
This study involves additional laboratory investigations on stored samples from 2015/16 “pneumococci in the nose” (PIN) study (IRAS 172458). PIN used culturing methods to detect the presence of the pneumococcus bacterium carried in noses of healthy participants and, if present, determined the dominant serotype (strain) for each. This information is invaluable in studying effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines and planning for vaccine development. PIN also collected salivas, which were stored for future testing.
The original lab testing did not detect multiple serotypes of pneumococcus effectively, if more than one was present. However, it has become increasingly accepted that detecting multiple serotypes in carriage may be essential for understanding dynamics of colonization, host-to-host transmission and disease, especially in the context of different vaccination programmes. Samples collected during PIN could make an important contribution to this debate.
The PIN protocol stated we may further characterise samples for multiple serotype carriage using various techniques. We propose doing this using multiplex PCR methodology, in collaboration with Dr Krzysztof Trzcinski at University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU), Netherlands. Dr Trzcinski has pioneered and refined multiplex PCR analysis for nasal swabs and saliva samples in similar pneumococcal carriage studies in The Netherlands and will share his expertise with us so we can detect multiple serotypes in our stored samples.
Dr Trzcinski’s team will teach us how to perform his technique. We will exchange some of our nasal swab and saliva samples with similar samples from Dr Trzcinski’s laboratory as a validation exercise, to check consistency in the two labs. Once validation has been performed, we will test remaining PIN samples. Results will provide a richer analysis of pneumococcal serotypes carried in healthy UK individuals for scientific study and will allow us to compare overall results from the two countries, in which different vaccine policies are used.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0044
Date of REC Opinion
6 Feb 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion