Switching off leakage and inflammation in small brain blood vessels

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Can we switch off blood brain barrier leakage and inflammation in cerebral small vessel disease? - A treatment trial

• IRAS ID

  246095

• Contact name

  Hugh Markus

• Contact email

  hsm32@medschl.cam.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 11 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Cerebral small vessel disease is a major cause of stroke and dementia in the UK. The causes of progression of the disease are not completely understood. Recently leakiness of the blood brain barrier has been proposed as a mechanism, which itself may cause inflammation of the brain. If we can understand what causes progression of the disease it may be possible to target treatments to reduce these processes and, therefore, progression.
  Our previous observational study showed that we can detect differences between SVD patients and controls in both blood brain barrier leakiness and neuroinflammation. This double-blind randomised controlled trial will assess whether a drug, minocycline, an antibiotic, which has been shown to inhibit the processes that cause inflammation and leakiness in animals, can have the same effect in man. We will recruit patients with small vessel disease and treat half with minocycline and half with a placebo. We will perform imaging before treatment starts and after three months and measure the amount of leakiness and inflammation seen and whether they differ between the groups. We will also acquire MR images after 12 months to see if the treatment has reduced the accrual of damage to the brain. Cognitive tests will also be performed at baseline, 3 months and 12 months

• REC name

  East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/EE/0237

• Date of REC Opinion

  15 Oct 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion