Discovering Biomarkers for Autoimmune Liver Disease Stratification
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identification of new Biomarkers and Inflammatory Pathways in Autoimmune Liver Disease.
IRAS ID
254179
Contact name
Douglas Thorburn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 4 days
Research summary
Liver and digestive system diseases comprise a broad spectrum of disorders, part of which are still under diagnosed, unknown or for which treatment is only partially beneficial. Along these lines, many diseases are still labelled as idiopathic (uncertain cause) or cryogenic (uncertain origin), highlighting a lack of knowledge on the cause or parthenogenesis. Autoimmune liver diseases represent a particular subgroup of disorders:autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, primary biliary cirrhosis,overlap syndromes and other sub-types. The overall cause of the liver disease is an immune system mediated or by the result of the interaction between identified or unidentified factors and the immune system. The consequences are chronic liver inflammation which may lead to cirrhosis. Interactions between the liver, gut and biliary system represents a fundamental link in the pathophysiological process of these diseases. In primary sclerosing cholangitis, for example, the prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases are extremely high, suggestive of an important role of gut inflammation in the underlying pathogenesis. Moreover, neoplastic (abnormal of excessive growth often cancer) transformation is a recognised risk of chronic liver disease. Especially, hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma develop on the background of liver cirrhosis. However, cholangiocarcinoma may also complicate primary sclerosing cholangitis even in the absence of overt cirrhosis making the followup and management of these patients particularly challenging.
In addition, relapse of autoimmune liver diseases after liver
transplant may be present in 4050% of cases in primary sclerosing
cholangitis.There is an urgent need to improve the outcome of these patients by achieving a better understanding of the underlying pathological processes responsible for these diseases, how they progress, if there is a way to predict their complications, including neoplastic
transformation and relapse after liver transplantation.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1616
Date of REC Opinion
17 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion