Biomarker and immune function prediction in Rheumatoid arthritis

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigation of potential microparticle and immune function profile biomarkers as predictors of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients

• IRAS ID

  136308

• Contact name

  Berne Ferry

• Contact email

  Berne.Ferry@ouh.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust

• Research summary

  Can analysis of microparticles and immune function profiling enable better management of patients with Rheumatoid arthritis?
  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects approx. 400,000 - 600,000 people in the UK. The biggest cause of death in RA patients is cardiovascular disease (CVD) with heart attack the most prevalent followed by stroke. Statistics from 2009 estimated that management of patients with RA costs the NHS approx £560 million annually with a cost to the economy of £1.8 billion due to disability and sick leave.
  Conditions such as RA are caused by the immune system becoming dysregulated, this can mean that their immune system acts noticeably different to the immune system of a healthy individual when placed in certain situations. Conditions such as CVD are associated with an increase in microparticles - small components of cells in the blood stream that break away from the cell because of stress or damage.
  This 4 year study will be investigating whether RA patients with cardiovascular disease show differences in their immune system profile and their proportions of different microparticles when compared to RA patients who don’t have cardiovascular disease. This will be carried out on small amounts of blood sample that will be taken from each patient during their routine clinic appointments at the Nuffield Orthopaedic centre (NOC) and the other hospitals of the Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Trust. This information will then used to test a group of new RA patients to see if a prediction can be made of their chances in developing cardiovascular disease. It is hoped that this study will also be able to help determine what the best treatments are for particular RA patients depending on the way that their immune system acts in particular situations.

• REC name

  South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  14/SC/0025

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Mar 2014

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion