EVENT TB

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigating Early Immunological Events in Active TB Disease and Latent Tuberculosis Infection (EVENT TB)

• IRAS ID

  277963

• Contact name

  Pranabashis Haldar

• Contact email

  ph62@le.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Leicester

• Duration of Study in the UK

  5 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). TB usually affects the lungs and is increasing in the UK. It can result in serious illness and remains a major cause of death in the world. However, not everyone infected with M. tuberculosis becomes sick and exhibits features of active TB disease. Thus, there are two TB­ related conditions:

  •Active TB disease and
  •Latent TB infection (LTBI)

  Those with LTBI do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms, they are infected but not clinically affected. Currently, the diagnosis of LTBI is based solely on evidence of immune reaction, usually by positive blood test (QuantiFERON­-TB Gold In­-Tube). Overall, without treatment, about 10­-20% of LTBI patients will develop active TB disease at some point in their lives, with most developing TB disease in the first two years of infection.

  Clinically, there is no current test that can:

  •differentiate active TB disease from LTBI or
  •identify those with LTBI who may progress to active TB disease

  Identification of those LTBI individuals most at risk of developing active TB disease would help clinicians to target preventative therapy. This is an important issue as disease treatment is lengthy with potentially toxic drugs.

  To improve the detection and treatment of LTBI, we need a better understanding of how the immune system responds to it. This study aims to identify the patterns of gene activity that represent the immune response of patients with active TB disease and LTBI both systemically (from blood) and locally (from samples taken from the lungs).

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  21/EM/0139

• Date of REC Opinion

  18 Jun 2021

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion