Phenotyping of bariatric surgery patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Longitudinal phenotyping of bariatric surgery patients
IRAS ID
169767
Contact name
Nicholas Penney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Within the UK approximately 1 in 4 adults are now obese. This epidemic is causing a dramatic rise in associated disease such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. These diseases in turn carry a significant health and economic burden. Currently bariatric surgery is the most successful treatment for obesity. Importantly, bariatric surgery has also emerged as a highly effective treatment of diabetes in obese patients.
Recent studies have shown that bacteria within the gut play an important role in this improvement. Bariatric surgery fundamentally changes the environment within the gut, which results in changes to the makeup of the trillions of bacteria living within it. These changes in the gut bacteria can affect the body in a number of complex ways, which we are only just beginning to be understand. In this study I aim to find out how bariatric surgery changes the gut bacteria, how this effects the molecules circulating in the patients blood and how these changes bring about weight loss and improvement of diabetes. With this understanding I hope to identify processes that could be targets for future treatments.
Additionally, although highly successful, up to 30% of obese patients do not undergo improvement of their diabetes after bariatric surgery. I aim to identify molecules within the patient’s blood or urine that are able to predict the likely chance a patient will undergo improvement in their diabetes after bariatric surgery to help doctors select patients most likely to benefit.
I will study 130 obese diabetic female patients undergoing bariatric surgery. I will analyse changes to their gut bacteria and the molecules in their urine and blood before and after surgery at the time of their usual outpatient appointments. In conjunction I will monitor their health outcomes such as weight loss and improvement of diabetes.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
15/ES/0026
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion