CMV NGS and host immunobiology in immunosuppressed paediatric cohorts
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cytomegalovirus next generation sequencing and host immunobiology in immunosuppressed paediatric cohorts
IRAS ID
247512
Contact name
Judith Breuer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a virus that infects humans and establishes lifelong latent infection. This latent infection is normally well controlled by the host immune system and does not cause disease. However, when host immunity is compromised (either by illness and/or by drugs that suppress the immune system) the infection can reactivate and cause disease. This is of particular relevance to patients undergoing transplantation. These individuals are heavily immunosuppressed during their transplantation, as necessitated by this process to avoid rejection of the transplant by their immune system. This renders them highly susceptible to reactivation of (or
occasionally primary infection from) CMV.The aim of this project is to better understand the host/virus interaction pre- and post-transplantation, by combining information about the virus with information about the host immune response. We will use next generation sequencing (a technique designed to look at the genetic code of the virus) to look at the evolution of the virus within specific hosts (with the cases studied taken from the unique cohort of patients within Great Ormond Street Hospital). We will combine this with the host immune response by measuring specific immune cells that develop to manage CMV infections, such as T cells (via techniques such as flow cytometry and T cell receptor sequencing). The aim of this pilot study is to correlate trends within these two arms of study, with an overall objective to develop any foci of interest into larger, prospective analysis of CMV reactivation in cohorts of interest.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0186
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion