RETAIN Study

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Study of Inflammatory and Physiological Profiles of Healthy and Diseased Lung

• IRAS ID

  322540

• Contact name

  Mona Bafadhel

• Contact email

  mona.bafadhel@kcl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  King's College London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  5 years, 11 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  At the King’s Centre for Lung Health we are undertaking a study to understand more about airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We will be enrolling patients with diagnosed or suspected airways disease who are over 18 years old, as well as age matched healthy volunteers with no significant illness. All patients with airway disease will be approached during a routine respiratory clinic within the Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTFT). Participants will be asked if they consent to enter the study, invited at clinically relevant time points (treatment change, disease exacerbation etc.) and bronchoscopy visits. It is expected that participants will be seen no more than once per year (unless experiencing an exacerbation event). Healthy volunteers will be recruited via local advertisements. Research visits will occur at sites normally used for sample collection at King's College London and GSTFT, with all bronchoscopy visits occurring within GSTFT.
  
  There is a desperate need to understand the body's immune pathways so we can help prevent the 700,000 UK hospital admissions every year due to lung disease symptoms. Immune pathways include the cells and molecules in your body that protect from disease and infection. Identifying these immune patterns throughout the lungs will help us understand airway disease better. We will be asking participants to carry out:

  1. Disease specific questionnaires
  2. Lung function tests including spirometry or oscillometry (if not performed previously within 6 months)
  3. Sputum collection
  4. Nasal sampling including nasosorption, nasal brushing, or nasopharyngeal swabs
  5. Exhaled breath
  6. Blood samples (6 tablespoons)

  Optional
  7. Bronchoscopy involving a flexible fibreoptic camera passed into the lungs to collect bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchosorption, bronchial brushings and bronchial biopsies.
  8. To repeat these procedures at later time - expected once per year or at times of clinically relevant changes

• REC name

  East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  23/EE/0221

• Date of REC Opinion

  30 Oct 2023

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion