fMRI as a Potential Predictive Tool in ION
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Functional MRI as a Potential Predictive Tool in Inherited Optic Neuropathy.
IRAS ID
258959
Contact name
Tessa Dekker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2020/02/39, UCL Data Protection Registration
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
With the recent emergence of treatments for eye disease that likely work best early in life (e.g., gene and stemcell therapy), there is an urgent need for reliably quantifying and monitoring visual processing and treatment efficiency in patient populations. This project aims to take and optimise cutting-edge Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methods for measuring neural function and structure in Optic Neuropathies, and more specifically in Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) - a heritable mitochondrial disorder causing acute loss of central vision in early adulthood.
Whilst several studies suggest that LHON also affects downstream visual pathways in the brain, the neural mechanisms involved – particularly in the acute phase – are poorly understood, despite the important role these processes likely play in functional recovery. This project will address this gap in understanding by combining the latest innovations in MRI physics and computational neuroimaging with exclusive access to a large sample of acute and chronic LHON patients.
Our aim is to develop a novel battery of MRI-based tools to measure the visual brain beyond the retina; use these new methods to track disease progression in acute and chronic LHON cases, to address outstanding questions about neural mechanisms, and in particular evaluate how these methods can inform future clinical trials. These data will allow us to distinguish between competing hypotheses about neural disease mechanisms of acute and chronic LHON, and gain new insight in the processes that support recovery of visual function in this disease – recovery that can either occur spontaneously (~20% of cases) or can result from clinical intervention. In addition to providing unique insight into the aetiology of this debilitating eye disease that is currently poorly understood at the neural level, this project will pave the way for using high-field neuroimaging as an objective outcome measure in multi-site clinical trials.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/YH/0251
Date of REC Opinion
29 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion