ADR-gene study (v1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Adverse drug reactions in older people - the role of genotype: the ADR-gene study
IRAS ID
184877
Contact name
Chakravarthi Rajkumar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Older people are the largest users of healthcare, and the recipients of the majority of prescribed medication. They also seem to be at greater risk of developing an unwanted reaction to a medication (Adverse Drug Reactions or ADRs).
We do not yet know why some older people appear to be at greater risk of developing an ADR. A possible explanation could be that their body is less able to remove the medicine, or degrade it. This leads to the medicine building up in the body causing side effects.
A protein in the human body called NFE2L2 plays an important role in breaking down medicines and stopping them from accumulating to harmful levels in the body.
In animal studies it has been shown that there is less NFE2L2 protein in the cells of older animals compared to younger ones. If this is the case in humans then it may mean that older people are less capable of removing medicines from their body. In addition, some people have a slightly different, less effective form of NFE2L2 in their body. The combination of either less NFE2L2 protein or a less efficient variant of NFE2L2 in some older people predisposes them to be at a higher risk of suffering an ADR.The aim of this study is to investigate whether older people with the less effective form of NFE2L2 are at greater risk of developing an ADR.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0240
Date of REC Opinion
22 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion