Antineuronal antibodies and diabetic peripheral neuropathy Version 1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Antineuronal antibodies and diabetic peripheral neuropathy
IRAS ID
165958
Contact name
Paul Maddison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham Health Science Partners, Nottingham University Hospitals
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Some patients with diabetes can develop problems with the ends of the peripheral nerves, often resulting in numbness, tingling and discomfort in the hands and feet in particular: we call this peripheral neuropathy. In some patients, the neuropathy can cause pain as well as numbness for reasons that are not entirely clear.
The exact causes of neuropathy, or abnormal nerve function, in patients with diabetes is not fully understood. Recently, doctors have discovered that an antibody found in the blood stream which attaches to peripheral nerves in some patients can cause nerve pain. The aim of this project is to look for these nerve antibodies in diabetic patients with neuropathy to see if they are present in patients with and without neuropathy, whether the neuropathy be painful or not.
If we do find that some diabetic patients with neuropathy have detectable nerve antibodies in their blood stream, this might suggest that new forms of treatment (that target these antibodies) may be useful to help the neuropathy symptoms. We could use the antibody findings as a baseline for any future trials of therapy targeted at the immune system.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0032
Date of REC Opinion
6 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion