IMRABIOME_v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Influence of Methotrexate on the Rheumatoid Arthritis Microbiome
IRAS ID
212604
Contact name
Frances Wiliams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Kings College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
Many rheumatic diseases have been shown to be heritable and are considered common complex traits. This means they are derived from both genetic and environmental (non-genetic/outside) causes. The community of bugs that live within a human host, the host microbiota, is an example of these environmental factor.
The community of bugs in our body is normally made up of different species, such as bacteria and viruses. These bugs start to develop from when we are born, and in fact we believe acquiring these different bugs early on in our life is important for normal development. Humans and their individual bugs have developed together over time, creating a relationship where we both benefit each other, or where one of us benefit from the other without causing harm to the other.
The things around us, things we do or things we put into our body can change the make-up of the community of bugs in our body. An example of this is can be the drugs e.g. antibiotics that we take. Losing the range of the different species of the bugs in our body and/or developing an imbalance, where there is too much of one type and too little of the other, can cause on-going diseases, including those that lead or may be related to rheumatoid arthritis.
Therefore, in this study we intend to approach patients that have recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and have had their symptoms for than 12 months. From this group, we will collect and analyse stool, saliva, urine and blood samples to see if the type and range of community of bugs in their body changes after they take the drugs for their rheumatoid arthritis. We will also check if this change tells us who will respond to treatment and how their disease progresses.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0072
Date of REC Opinion
7 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion