TSPO PET Blockade in PAH

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Quantifying 18kDa TSPO expression in the lung in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension (PAH)

• IRAS ID

  323683

• Contact name

  Martin Wilkins

• Contact email

  m.wilkins@imperial.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Imperial College London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Background
  Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare condition where blood flow in the lung is reduced (despite no disease in the lung itself). This leads to heart failure and premature death. In around half of patients there is no identifiable underlying cause. Examination of the lung after death shows that the arteries have altered their structure considerably, the cells lining the blood vessels have proliferated and there is lots of inflammation. There are several treatments available, but whilst these treatments improve symptoms, unfortunately they have little impact on the underlying disease process, and do not reverse or even slow down the course of the condition.
  The past few years have seen attempts to generate new drugs to slow the disease. An imaging technique that could detect and measure inflammation within the lung would be extremely useful to assess whether new drugs in development are working. This would help us select which drugs should be tested in larger patient studies.

  Positron Emission Tomography (PET) targeting a protein called the 18kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO) is an imaging technique that is widely used in brain research to detect inflammation. We have shown by studying lung tissue that there is an increase in TSPO from patients who had PAH relative to controls. The aim of this study therefore, is to determine whether there is an increase in the TSPO PET signal in the lungs of patients living with PAH relative to age matched controls.

  Study design
  We will perform TSPO PET scans on people with PAH and healthy volunteers in order to determine if the people with PAH have more TSPO in their lungs than healthy volunteers

  Who is funding the research?
  Imperial College London

  Where is will be recruiting?
  Imperial College London

• REC name

  London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  23/LO/0080

• Date of REC Opinion

  3 Feb 2023

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion