PHAGO – human cell models
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Establishing human peripheral blood and iPS cell macrophage/microglia models of TREM2 and CD33
IRAS ID
224771
Contact name
Oliver Howes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
As some people get older small amounts of damage can accumulate in their brain and may cause brain immune cells to become faulty, which may in turn lead to greater brain inflammation and an increased risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Our goal is to develop a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease by modulating how brain immune cells respond to damage. Our study aims to produce new knowledge and tools about brain inflammation to help us achieve this. We know that certain genetic factors can influence brain immune cell behaviour in Alzheimer’s disease and other similar conditions and understanding this better may provide important clues for directing our efforts to find a treatment.
We know that certain genetic factors can influence brain immune cell behaviour which we think may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease or related conditions. Understanding this better may provide important clues for directing our efforts to find a treatment. We will study cells in blood which are like those found in the brain. We will also use blood cells to generate brain immune cells in the laboratory using an approach called induced pluripotent stem cells, also known as “iPS” cells. This will give us a greater number of cells needed for our work and produce cells more like those found in the brain.
We will use these cells for detailed assessments of their inflammatory behaviour and for screening for compounds able to positively modulate their inflammatory behaviour as a first step to developing a treatment.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0070
Date of REC Opinion
3 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion