SEPsis in ONCology Patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation into the Transcriptomic and Functional Profile of SEPsis in ONCology Patients
IRAS ID
312449
Contact name
Kate Tatham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Royal Marsden NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Sepsis occurs following severe infection, It can overwhelm the immune system and unfortunately can result in life-threatening organ failure and death. To date, no specific therapies to treat sepsis have been found.
Patients with cancer have immune suppression as a result of the cancer itself and its treatments. This puts them at a higher risk of contracting and dying from sepsis, compared to non-cancer patients, with mortality rates from 25%-70%.
The impact of cancer-related immune suppression on the risk of contracting and dying from sepsis is unknown. This study aims to address this knowledge gap, and ultimately to provide crucial guidance on therapeutic strategies to tackle sepsis in cancer patients.
This proposal focuses on establishing whether cancer patients with sepsis can be ‘profiled’ – or classified into subgroups - based on gene activity (or ‘expression profiles’) of their white blood cells. Previous work in non-cancer patients with sepsis has identified two distinct gene expression profiles that impact outcome. We will look for similar profiles in cancer patients with sepsis and link them to other biological and clinical parameters listed below.
Patients will have blood samples taken and details about the patient’s cancer history, source of sepsis and clinical course will also be collected. Analysis of gene expression will also be complemented with analysis of: the levels of dissolved 'biomarkers' of infection in the blood, the features of white cells that are present in the blood at the time of sepsis and the patients' DNA (genetic code) to see if they were born with any genes that might predict their response to sepsis.
We envisage that the information regarding the patients’ immune profiles obtained from this study will provide us with a better understanding of sepsis in cancer patients and will help develop new effective treatments.REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0581
Date of REC Opinion
22 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion