Endothelial cell culture in pulmonary hypertension
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Endothelial cell culture responses to pulmonary hypertension drug therapy
IRAS ID
160550
Contact name
PA Corris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a disease caused by the dysfunction of the endothelium. It leads to right heart failure and death. There are now several different classes of drugs available to treat this condition which can improve symptoms and quality of life.
Even though the development of these drugs over has been a major advance, the overall prognosis for patients with PH remains poor. The response to drug therapy varies between patients and we do not understand why some patients respond to certain types of drug therapy and others do not. Therefore, there is a pressing need to increase our understanding of these drug actions on the endothelium.
We propose studying endothelial cells under certain stresses similar to those seen in disease and exposing them to different drug classes. The cells will be retrieved from clinical equipment used in the patient’s routine clinical care that would be otherwise disposed of.
The study will increase our understanding of the responses to different drug classes in patients and potentially offer personalised medicine. This approach is highly likely to lead to improved patient care and prognosis and simultaneously avoiding the prolonged use of drugs which are ineffective.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1148
Date of REC Opinion
23 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion