View clinical trials related to Inflammatory Disease.
Filter by:This study is being performed to see if 18F-FDS is a useful imaging agent for diagnosis of bacterial infections. Position Emission Tomography / computed tomography (CT) scans will be obtained after intravenous injection of 18F-FDS to determine biodistribution and pathophysiology in diseased subjects.
Periodontitis is a serious gum infection that damages the soft tissue and, without treatment, can destroy the bone that supports your teeth. Hydroxylated poly methoxy flavones are a combination of naturally occurring flavonoids extracted from the orange peel and exert anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal activity however, this extract is poorly soluble and poorly absorbable. In this work, this extract was formulated as a solid dispersion formulation to enhance its biological activity and then incorporated into a gel base and used in the treatment of periodontitis after clinical debridement.
Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is a critical cytokine for the survival and function of regulatory T cells (LTreg). This cytokine has a dual role in the immune system. IL-2 stimulates immune responses by acting on the intermediate affinity IL-2R receptor, IL-2Rβγ, expressed by conventional T cells (LTconv) during activation, but also contributes to the inhibition of immune responses via LTreg that express the high affinity receptor IL-2Rαβγ. This difference in IL-2 receptor affinity for IL-2 has led to the development of low-dose IL-2 therapy to stimulate LTreg and improve control of excessive inflammation in autoimmune (AID), inflammatory or alloimmune diseases Low-dose IL-2 therapy is being studied in several of these diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, type 1 diabetes, alopecia, HCV (hepatitis C virus)-induced vasculitis, atopic dermatitis and chronic allo-transplantation-related graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Some of these studies have shown an increase in LTreg numbers and an improvement in certain clinical signs. To improve LTreg targeting in autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases or GVHD, mutated IL-2s (muteins) have been developed with selective LTreg agonist properties. These IL-2 muteins are linked to an Fc fragment to increase their half-life. Two IL-2 variants (IL-2Vs)-Fc preferentially stimulate STAT5 phosphorylation in LTregs compared to conventional FoxP3- (LTconv) CD4+ or CD8+ T cells
Supplements and functional foods are now readily available and usable by the general population. Many supplemnets are commonly used in poly-treated patients where interactions or adverse events may develop, therefore we evaluate in the rela life the use of nutraceuticals, their clinical effects and the development of adverse drug reactions
People with inflammatory diseases treated with immune-suppressing medication are recommended to have regular blood-tests to monitor for potential side-effects of this treatment on their blood count, liver and kidneys. However, it is not clear that monitoring is needed as frequently as currently recommended in the long-term, with side-effects being rare after one year of treatment. A study is currently underway to determine the optimal blood-test monitoring strategy which is cost-effective but still safe. Any changes in the monitoring strategy must be acceptable to patients and the healthcare professionals (HCP) that treat them. This study aims to measure how often patients' with common inflammatory conditions on long-term immune suppressing medication attend their monitoring blood tests as currently recommended, and uncover patients' and HCP views and experiences of the current blood-test monitoring strategy, and the acceptability of potential changes to this in the future. Firstly, patients with an inflammatory condition on long-term immune suppressing treatment will be invited to complete a questionnaire which will ask about their demographic information, medical condition(s), immune-suppressing treatment, adherence to the monitoring blood tests and willingness to take part in an interview. Then, both patients and HCPs who care for such patients will be invited to take part in a single, semi-structured interview. Interviews will be face-to-face, by telephone or video-call, last up to one hour and digitally audio-recorded. Patient interviews will explore their perceptions of risk, benefits and experiences of current testing, and views on the new testing frequencies emerging from the study prior. HCP interviews will explore their perceptions of current testing including, the practicalities, usefulness, risks and benefits of the blood tests, and views on the new testing frequencies emerging from the study prior. The findings will shape the recommendations for a new monitoring strategy, ensuring it is acceptable to patients and HCPs.
Systemic autoinflammatory diseases (SAIDs) are a set of rare clinically and genetically heterogeneous conditions. The project proposes to identify novel genes and specific signatures in subgroups of patients with SAIDs.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease where the immune cells invade the central nervous system and destroy an essential element of nerve conduction: the myelin. An interesting feature observed in some patients is a regenerative process, called remyelination, which leads to the production of new myelin. However, the extent of remyelination is very heterogeneous among patients, only a minority of patients show a really efficient repair process along the disease course. In this project, our aim is to explore in vivo the biological mechanisms leading to a successful remyelination in some patients and to a failure in remyelination in others. With this purpose in mind we propose to develop a translational research platform where patients with multiple sclerosis will be investigated in vivo for their potential of remyelination through a follow-up with recently developed imaging technologies using a synergistic combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to visualize and quantify myelin and neuroinflammation. In parallel blood immune cells from patients will be sampled and profiled to investigate how they could influence remyelination. This part will consist in i) grafting patients' lymphocytes in experimental rodent models of demyelination to characterize how they could promote or inhibit remyelination; ii) performing a functional and multi-omics analysis of peripheral macrophages and analyse relationships with remyelination profiles; iii) profiling T lymphocytes at the single cell level to associate specific subpopulation of the T cells with the remyelination potential assessed in patients with MRI/PET images and in grafted animals.
People with inflammatory diseases are often treated with medications that act to suppress the immune-system, increasing the risk of catching infections. Consequently, vaccination with the pneumonia and seasonal flu vaccines is recommended for them. They were also prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccines early in the national rollout. However, the uptake of the pneumonia and seasonal flu vaccines among this group is lower than ideal. There may be many reasons why they do or do not seek to be vaccinated for these infections, such as the belief it may cause their disease to flare up or lack of knowledge of vaccines effectiveness. Anecdotally there was a high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in adults with inflammatory conditions, however, concerns about vaccine-induced disease flare-ups and reports of complications deterred some from being vaccinated. A better understanding of why people do and do not seek vaccination may result in more targeted messaging for patients to help overcome vaccine hesitancy for these infectious diseases. This study aims to explore the drivers and barriers to being vaccinated among adults with common inflammatory conditions and on immune-suppressing medication. They will be invited to participate in a single, semi-structured interview. Interviews will be face-to-face, by telephone or video-call, last up to one hour, and digitally audio-recorded. They will explore participants' understanding of pneumonia, seasonal flu and COVID-19 and the risk they pose to their health, their understanding of vaccinations, beliefs of the benefits and risks of vaccinations for these infections, and reasons for seeking or not seeking vaccination. Findings will inform messaging about being vaccinated for these infections in patient education leaflets, such as those by patient charities regularly provided at speciality clinics. They will also be disseminated to healthcare professionals to help them better understand the drivers and barriers to vaccination.
Inflammatory disc disease or Modic 1 disc disease is a radiological entity first described by Modic in 1988 and corresponds to an inflammatory signal on MRI defined by the presence of a T2-weighted hypersignal and a T1-weighted hyposignal of the vertebral endplates adjacent to a pathological disc. The presence of these radiological abnormalities are significantly associated with chronic low back pain, the therapeutic management of which may include lumbar rehabilitation, rigid corset, spinal infiltrations and surgical treatment. Corticosteroid infiltration of the pathological intervertebral disc (intradiscal infiltration) has been evaluated in low back pain due to Modic 1 disc disease with short-term efficacy. The clinical response to this infiltration is not always optimal and to date in the literature, no predictive factor of response has been identified.
This is a pilot study to investigate serum prednisolone profiles in: - Patients on high doses of prednisolone for any inflammatory disorder, both in the acute and chronic setting. - Patients stepping up from or down to prednisolone therapy in association with a course of high dose methyl-prednisolone or dexamethasone. The study will comprise 3 groups, including those started on high doses of prednisolone acutely in an inpatient or outpatient setting, participants on chronically high doses, and those receiving a several week course of high dose methylprednisolone or dexamethasone. The study aims to measure prednisolone levels at a number of time points to investigate serum profile differences in those receiving prednisolone acutely compared with longer term steroid use. Further samples will be taken to characterise additional metabolic changes.