Comparison of two corticosteroids on macrophage function
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Comparative effects of budesonide and fluticasone propionate on phagocytosis
IRAS ID
189139
Contact name
Louise E Donnelly
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD for short, is an umbrella term that is used to describe three different conditions including 1) chronic bronchitis where patients produce more phlegm than is normal and this can block the air passages, 2) small airway disease, which is where the smaller air passages can become blocked by scaring and 3) emphysema, where the lung tissue is destroyed. Overall, patients with COPD find breathing difficult and some are more susceptible to chest infections. These infections can cause more damage to the lungs and can be caused by bacteria. Normally, we have special white cells in our lungs called macrophages, that can ‘eat’ and remove bacteria, but in COPD, the macrophages cannot do this very well. This might be why COPD patients have more chest infections. To study this in more detail, we can take white cells out of blood samples and grow macrophages in the laboratory. When we do this, the cells from COPD patients also cannot ‘eat’ bacteria very well so we use these to investigate why. Many patients with COPD have an inhaler that delivers medicines to their lungs. One type of anti-inflammatory medicine are steroids. Some people with COPD who take a steroid called fluticasone propionate have gone on to develop pneumonia but patients who take a different steroid called budesonide, do not. We want to see why this is and whether these two different steroids have different effects on macrophages in the laboratory. To do this, we will take blood from COPD patients and grow macrophages. We will then treat these cells with the different steroids and see if they change how the macrophages eat bacteria. We will also look at whether these steroids can stop the macrophages making proteins that switch on inflammation and whether they change proteins on the surface of the cells. With the study, we hope to find out whether one of these two different anti-inflammatory steroids works better than the other and whether patients with COPD are treated with the best one.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1591
Date of REC Opinion
14 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion