Identifying culprit plaque and immune response in atherosclerosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying culprit plaque and characterising the immune response in atherosclerosis
IRAS ID
246728
Contact name
Ramzi Khamis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN00000000
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The immune system plays a key role in atherosclerosis (build up of fatty streaks in blood vessels). Most of what is now known is at a general level and little is known about the role of the immune system at the level of the local lesion. An advanced technique that allows ‘blood sampling’ from atherosclerotic lesions has obtained its CE Mark and has been demonstrated to be safe in human studies. The Liquid Biopsy System (LBS) is a catheter designed for sampling blood directly from coronary arteries. These arteries supply blood to muscles of the heart and can become blocked by ‘atherosclerotic plaques’ leading to chest pain and heart attacks. Recent research has shown that development of ‘plaques’ inside coronary arteries is controlled by chemicals or biomarkers released into the blood from damaged areas of the artery wall. The LBS is designed to collect blood samples at the exact site of plaque breakdown. By testing these blood samples for biomarkers of plaque breakdown, it is hoped that new diagnostic tests and treatments for heart disease may be developed.
The study aim is to detect areas of plaque breakdown using a standardised clinical technique called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in order for the direct assessment of vessel wall structure during coronary angiography. An additional scope of this study is to image plaques using a new MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technique developed by our team. Previous studies have shown that high-risk plaques imaged on MRI were associated with significant future adverse heart events. However, those techniques were hampered by patient breathing patterns, prolonged and unreliable scan times. The new MRI sequence allows reliable, accurate and simultaneous imaging of the entire coronary anatomy as well as identifying high-risk plaques in a single free breathing, free of radiation scan with or without contrast (dye). The study will enrol patients presenting with heart attacks who are planned to undergo a balloon and stent procedure.
REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0669
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion