Analysing CSF to understand Cerebral Small Vessel Disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysing cerebrospinal fluid to understand cerebral small vessel disease
IRAS ID
253166
Contact name
Hugh Stephen Markus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cerebral small vessel disease is a major cause of stroke and dementia in the UK. The causes of progression of the disease are not completely understood. Recently leakiness of the blood brain barrier has been proposed as a mechanism, which itself may cause inflammation of the brain. If we can understand what causes progression of the disease it may be possible to target treatments to reduce these processes and, therefore, progression.
We aim to investigate this by measuring the albumin protein ratio in patient CSF and blood – the gold standard for measuring blood brain barrier permeability. We will also measure markers of inflammation and neuronal damage from the same samples. We hypothesise that levels of these markers will be higher in SVD patients due to inflammation around and leakage through the BBB. We will use a novel MRI protocol to correlate leakage across the BBB and assess the progression of small vessel disease radiologically.
We will recruit controls with no disease as well as people suffering with sporadic small vessel disease and also with CADASIL (a version of small vessel disease caused by a genetic mutation) from the stroke service at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. The study will involve MRI scanning at baseline and one year, and a lumbar puncture and blood test at baseline. The project will be jointly funded by a British Heart Foundation Centre of Excellence PhD studentship and a Medical Research Council Experimental Medicine grant.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0008
Date of REC Opinion
3 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion