Understanding the pathogenesis of vasculitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the pathogenesis of vasculitis
IRAS ID
203818
Contact name
Gary Reynolds
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 29 days
Research summary
Vasculitis is inflammation of blood vessels. It can cause a variety of symptoms and potential complications depending on which vessels are affected. Inflammation causes swelling of the walls of arteries, reducing or even blocking the flow of blood to tissues and organs. Two examples of vasculitis are Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) and Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA). GCA is the commonest form of vasculitis in adults and it affects the large arteries that supply the head. Up to 20% of people with this condition develop permanent visual disturbance. GPA affects small and medium sized arteries in the lungs, sinuses and kidneys and can potentially be fatal.
Vasculitis is usually treated with high doses of a medication called “corticosteroids”. This treatment has a range of serious side-effects including thinning of the bones (osteoporosis) and an increased risk of developing infections. Other medications used to dampen down the immune response can also predispose to serious infections.
We do not know what causes vasculitis. We would like to examine immune cells from affected tissue using biopsies performed to diagnose the disease. We would like to see whether their genetic code has been altered and to see what they are producing. We would compare them to healthy individuals and immune cells from blood.
We hope that if we knew more about what caused vasculitis we might be able to diagnose it better and give more effective treatments with fewer side-effects.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NE/0319
Date of REC Opinion
4 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion