Environmental particles and pneumonia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of environmental particles on vulnerability to pneumonia
IRAS ID
179668
Contact name
Jonathan Grigg
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Barts Health NHS Trust ,
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Studies conducted in welders in England and Wales show increased risk of mortality due to pneumococcal and viral pneumonia and incidence of occupational asthma in welders of working age. The data suggest that exposure to welding fume reversibly increases lung susceptibility to infection. We have recently established a role for a cell surface receptor, the platelet activating factor receptor (PAFR) in susceptibility to pnuemococcal infection in mice and human lung cells exposed to WF. Our preliminary data suggest that lower airway epithelial PAFR expression in active non-smoking welders should be increased compared to non-smoking unexposed controls, and therefore a putative biomarker of vulnerability. There is currently no data on the expression of these receptors in the nasal cells of welders. We will recruit 20 non-smoking welders and 20 non-smoking healthy controls. Thus we will have power of 90% to detect 1 standard deviation in receptor expression. The study will be supervised by the clinician principle investigator, Prof. Grigg. Gender: Due to the nature of the occupation we expect all our exposed participants to be male. Hence we will only recruit healthy male controls. Age: 16-64 years (not retired). Number of participants: 20 healthy controls, 20 welders who are welding on a regular basis (at least monthly). We will exclude smokers and subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) as smoking is a confounding factor in the analysis. We have previously shown increased PAFR expression in the lower airway epithelium of both smokers and smokers with COPD. We have funding to pay subjects £50 each for their time. We will liaise with Tower Hamlets Council, the Epidemiology department at Public Health England and Retroscreen Virology to facilitate subject recruitment.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NE/0237
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion