Dynamics of pneumolysin in adults with pneumococcal pneumonia.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cohort study of pneumolysin and other cytokine profiles in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia
IRAS ID
156106
Contact name
WS Lim
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hopsitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Respiratory infections, including community acquired pneumonia, account for a large burden of disease worldwide. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the commonest cause of community acquired pneumonia. Over time, this organism is increasingly developing antibiotic resistance. Therefore, it is crucial to identify other targeted treatment strategies.
Pneumolysin (PLY) is a toxin produced by most clinically relevant strains of S. pneumoniae. This toxin is crucial in the disease causing ability of the organism. A new anti-PLY treatment has been developed and tested in animals. However, to be able to develop this treatment for human use, as an adjunct to current treatment strategies, we need to understand the patterns of PLY released in clinical illness.
This study proposes to characterise these patterns in detail.
We aim to measure PLY levels in patients hospitalalised with pneumonia, both due to S. pneumoniae (cases) and also other organisms (controls) over 5 days from initial presentation. This will allow us to assess 1. trends in PLY concentration over time and at achivement of clinical stability and 2. association of PLY with disease severity. It will also allow us to correlate PLY concentrations with more commonly used markers of infection and inflammation e.g. cytokines and C-Reactive Peptide.
Patients with community acquired pneumonia will be treated in the normal way by the doctors looking after them. All our study requires are blood tests, urine tests and if possible, sputum tests once a day for 5 days. The results of the tests will not affect patient care in any way.Summary of Results
2 participants were recruited into the study. However, at this time, it was determined that the study assay could not validated, therefore samples were not processed and no further participants were recruited.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1285
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion