Metabolic profiling of diabetic foot ulcers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Metabolic profiling of diabetic foot ulcers
IRAS ID
287738
Contact name
Alun Davies
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Diabetic foot ulceration is a major cause of morbidity, reduced quality of life, healthcare budget expenditure and a significant risk factor for major amputation of the leg. Despite best management, there has been a recent increasing trend in lower extremity amputations. Diabetes causes 24 amputations in 24 hours. Diabetes UK has recognized the lack of multi-disciplinary team approach as a common denominator for this significant rise in numbers. However, the cost of ensuring multidisciplinary specialist provision is a massive issue and burden on the NHS budget.
Currently, not much is known about the molecular details of diabetic foot ulcer development, progression and healing. Obtaining a detailed picture of this can help us better understand how these ulcers behave and whether any factors are associated with a higher chance of healing. This could change the management of diabetic foot ulcer patients, providing them with more individual therapy and, in the future, helping support the development of new treatment strategies for them. We have previously shown that in patients with venous leg ulceration (wounds caused by problems with the veins), the presence of molecules can predict healing at 20 weeks. These molecules have been shown to be important in tissue healing in animal studies. It is possible that these molecules may be important in patients with diabetic foot ulceration too.
This study aims to explore the biomolecular characteristics of diabetic foot ulceration via metabolic phenotyping, a technique that allows the examination of very small molecules to provide us with information on whether the previously identified molecules in venous leg ulcer patients, namely carnitine and ceramide, can be identified in diabetic foot ulcers. The study will assess whether these are associated with healing and will provide further detail on the characteristics of diabetic foot ulceration. This can be useful in developing ways of identifying patients less likely to heal who will need more intensive management, targeting resources to the population in most need of them.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
21/WA/0391
Date of REC Opinion
1 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion