This week we profile a recent publication in the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis from
the laboratory of Dr. Bradley Quon at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation.
Can you provide a brief overview of your lab’s current research focus?
Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) are prone to flare-ups in lung infection and inflammation referred to as pulmonary exacerbations. These events lead to progressive loss of lung function over a lifetime. My lab is focused on identifying better blood biomarkers of disease activity so that pulmonary exacerbation events can be diagnosed earlier or to aid in monitoring response to pulmonary exacerbation treatment.
What is the significance of the findings in this publication?
This is the first study in CF to evaluate early change in blood protein biomarkers using multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry to predict response to pulmonary exacerbation treatment. Several proteins from the blood of CF patients changed during the treatment of pulmonary exacerbations. We found that patients who had an increase in a blood protein known as fibrinogen during the first five days of antibiotic treatment had the greatest reduction in symptoms by the end of treatment. If this finding is confirmed in future studies, this blood test might be used to help CF clinicians monitor response to exacerbation treatment.
What are the next steps for this research?
We’re conducting a larger study involving multiple CF clinics across Canada to study fibrinogen as an early predictor of symptom and lung function improvement by the end of antibiotic treatment.
This research was funded by:
British Columbia Lung Association and Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
