The GRAMPUS-CF SRC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Gut Research Advancing a Mechanistic & Personalised Understanding of Symptoms in Cystic Fibrosis: a Strategic Research Centre (the GRAMPUS-CF SRC)
IRAS ID
321418
Contact name
Alan Smyth
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, months, days
Research summary
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a condition which markedly impacts the lungs and gut. It has features of systemic and organ specific inflammation.
Although chest infections affect well-being and survival in CF, most people with CF also have difficulty digesting food and must take medication for this. Despite this treatment, two thirds of people with CF miss school or work because of tummy symptoms (pain, bloating and wind). In some cases, these symptoms become severe leading to bowel obstruction and hospital admission.
Long term, people with CF have a greater risk of bowel cancer, as recently shown by our group, occurring at a significantly younger age.
Treatment of gut symptoms in CF is in the top 10 list of important questions for research among people with CF and health professionals looking after them. Current treatments are often ineffective because we do not fully understand why symptoms occur.
This project will describe accurately the categories of gut symptoms in CF and find out why they occur using novel tools including Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, blood and stool tests.
This will enable us to get a detailed understanding of the number and types of good and bad germs in the bowel of people with CF (pwCF), the mechanisms driving inflammation and how symptoms are impacted by abnormal gut movements.
The results will be linked using advanced statistics to find the factors causing gut symptoms to then identify treatments which are likely to be helpful.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EE/0092
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion