Inflammation and TPM expression in T2DM: detection of at-risk patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Inflammation and complications of Type 2 diabetes: detection of at-risk patients from leukocyte tropomyosin gene expression.
IRAS ID
236174
Contact name
Stuart Savill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Patients with Type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, having strokes and kidney failure and of developing cancer. As the rate of diabetes increases in the population the cost of treating these complications threatens to bankrupt the NHS. Currently, the best predictor of a person’s likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes are the levels of certain proteins involved in chronic inflammation found in blood. An accurate prediction of an individual’s risk requires measuring several of these inflammatory markers. One common factor between all of these complications is that their development requires alteration of the internal structure of the cell. A protein, called tropomyosin, is a key regulator of the internal structure of the cell and we have shown that changes to the levels of multiple inflammatory markers correlate with changes in tropomyosin levels.
We think that measuring changes in tropomyosin levels could be a way to predict more accurately who is at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes associated complications than current methods. We would like to measure the amounts of tropomyosin present in white blood cells from normal control individuals, people with Type 2 diabetes and people with Type 2 diabetes who have additional complications to determine whether tropomyosin could be used to predict the likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes and subsequent complications.
REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
18/WA/0047
Date of REC Opinion
20 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion