Histological changes associated with immunotherapy related colitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the immune mediated mechanisms of immunotherapy related colitis
IRAS ID
325012
Contact name
Munir Pirmohamed
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Our immune system is like the body's defense system against harmful things, including cancer cells. Immune checkpoints are brakes that are sometimes used by cancer cells to escape the immune system's attack. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are a novel drug used to help remove these brakes, allowing the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells more effectively.
This type of treatment has been successful for some people with certain types of cancer. However, like all treatments, it might not work for everyone and can have some side effects. One of the main side effects that occur as a result of our immune system being overactivated is inflammation of the bowel which is known as colitis that causes symptoms including diarrhoea, abdominal pain and weight loss. Colitis can be serious in some patients, causing them to stop treatment.
Currently, colitis caused by ICIs are treated with medications that are used for inflammatory bowel disease, an autoimmune disease causing inflammation of the bowel. Research however, has shown that the two conditions are different from each other in terms of how they manifest and what part of the immune system causes the disease.
Our study aims to understand the underlying mechanisms causing colitis due to ICIs by analysing tissue biopsy samples taken from patients with colitis. We will compare these to tissue samples from healthy patients as well as patients with inflammatory bowel disease in order to understand the differences between them. This will be important for us to determine if we are utilising the correct medications to treat colitis caused by ICIs.
The study will be utilising surplus tissue samples obtained from two studies that were obtained with ethical approval therefore we will not need to obtain any further samples from patients. The study will be carried out at The University of Liverpool.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0266
Date of REC Opinion
4 Dec 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion