Analysis of the respiratory microbiome in severe Vs non- severe asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of the respiratory microbiome and mycobiome in patients with severe and non-severe asthma
IRAS ID
225584
Contact name
Jennifer Ratner
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs which affects many people in the U.K. Asthma can cause symptoms such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing and chest tightness and can have a large impact on a patient’s quality of life. Fortunately, the majority of asthma patients can manage their disease using inhalers (steroids), however a significant proportion have severe asthma, which requires stronger treatment or may not respond to treatment at all, which can lead to hospitalisation and higher treatment costs for the NHS. People with asthma can also suffer periods where their disease worsens (exacerbations). Little is known about what triggers these and why some asthma patients have more severe and frequent exacerbations than others. There is increasing evidence that fungi residing in the lung play a significant role in both causing asthma and triggering asthma exacerbations and this study plans to discover which different types of fungi live in the lungs of people with severe and non-severe asthma, how the body responds to these organisms and how this affects whether a person may develop more severe disease.
It is well documented that standard laboratory methods of detecting fungi often fail to detect significant organisms and with advances in cutting edge molecular techniques and new methods of detecting fungi, and exploring the richness of microbial communities within the body are now an affordable reality. Understanding which fungi reside in the asthmatic lung will lead to a greater understanding of their role in different types of asthma and how the body responds to these, which could have a direct impact on how patients are treated for their disease.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0271
Date of REC Opinion
23 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion