CONFLuid study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Healthy control biofluid study
IRAS ID
249861
Contact name
Ross Paterson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106, UCL Data Protection Registration
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are currently used in clinical practice to support a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and play an increasingly valuable role in research into neurodegenerative diseases. They have utility in differentiating neurodegenerative diseases from one another, may assist pre-symptomatic clinical diagnosis, aid prognosis and are starting to be used as outcome measures in clinical trials to demonstrate target engagement of disease modifying therapies.
Over the past ten years, valuable clinical cohorts have been recruited at the UCL institute of Neurology to donate research CSF, blood and urine from a range of neurodegenerative diseases. These cohorts include typical, young-onset, and familial Alzheimer’s disease; sporadic and familial frontotemporal dementia; sporadic and familial prion disease; sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease; Huntington’s disease. Indeed all patients with suspected neurodegeneration who are referred for a clinical diagnostic lumbar puncture are invited to donate additional 15mL CSF for research purposes. Samples from these cohorts are stored within the Leonard Wolfson biobank.
The aim of this study is to establish the CSF, blood and urine biomarker profiles of healthy individuals with which to compare with samples from individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. We also aim to contribute to an existing biobank to provide a research repository that will allow validation of existing CSF assays, and development of new biomarkers to assist in diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases.
Samples will be analysed on a range of platforms including ELISA, targeted mass spectrometry and single molecule array technology (SIMOA).
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0913
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion