Cytokine profiles as predictors of IBD response to Biologic Therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cytokine profiles as predictors of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) response to Biologic Therapy
IRAS ID
254452
Contact name
Jonathan Tyrrell-Price
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 5 days
Research summary
Biologics are a new type of drug that have revolutionised treatment in a number of chronic inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), comprising of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is one of these conditions, characterised by immune system mediated damage to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
There are a few different Biologic drugs available. They work by targeting cytokines; cell signalling molecules which can stimulate the immune system causing inflammation. Current practice is to progress through these drugs in a standard order until a suitable treatment is found. However, this could delay commencing the best therapy for a specific patient. Recent studies suggest that as subsequent biologic therapies are required they become less effective and that these therapies are less effective after prolonged disease duration. Therefore, we would like to find out if it is possible to predict who will respond to each drug based on their individual immune system.
We intend to correlate a patient’s cytokine profile (a marker of the make-up of their immune system) with response to Biologic therapy and search for changes in that profile correlating with loss of response to treatment. To do this we will recruit patients from University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. By taking blood or tissue samples, cytokine levels will be measured in patients with IBD who are due to commence on, or are established on, Biologic therapy.
The research question was inspired by the lack of tools to predict response to Biologics and explain their secondary failure. This has become apparent at the weekly clinical review of all our IBD patients on Biologics. If positive, building on this research could lead us to a time where we can treat with personalized therapy, establishing patients on an appropriate treatment more quickly.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0367
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion