respiratory

Respiratory pharmacology is probably the area in which HMR has the greatest expertise and experience, not least because several of our medical staff have a longstanding interest in asthma and allergy.  As you’d expect, we’re well equipped to do a wide range of spirometry measurements, including

  • peak expiratory flow rate
  • FEV & FVC
  • airways resistance (sGaw) by whole-body plethysmography

We can also monitor

  • oxygen saturation
  • transcutaneous pO2
  • end-tidal pCO2
  • exhaled NO

At the most sophisticated level, we can measure

  • CO transfer factor
  • lung volumes by helium dilution.

Inhalation challenge

Our repertoire of pharmacodynamic tests includes inhalation challenge with

  • allergens
  • histamine
  • methacholine
  • AMP

with close monitoring and ‘rescue’ medication as necessary.

Sputum sampling

The HMR Laboratory offers on-site analysis of sputum – most often, for eosinophil and neutrophil counts.

Bronchoscopy and Bronchoalveolar lavage

HMR is truly exceptional in having an on-site endoscopy suite, which allows us to incorporate bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage in our trials of respiratory medicines in healthy volunteers and patients.

 

References

  1. Bryan S, O’Connor B, Matti S, Leckie M, Kananbar V, Khan J, Warrington S, Renzetti L, Rames A, Bock J,
    Boyce M, Hansel T, Holgate S, Barnes P. Effects of recombinant human interleukin-12 on eosinophils, airway hyper-responsiveness, and the late asthmatic response. Lancet 2000; 356: 2149–2153
  2. Erin E, Leaker B, Zacharasiewicz A, Higgins L, Jose P, Williams T, Boyce M, de Boer P, Durham S, Barnes P, Hansel T. Single-dose topical corticosteroid inhibits IL-5 and IL-13 levels in nasal lavage following grass pollen challenge. Allergy 2005; 60: 1524–1529
  3. Norris V, Choong L, Tran D, Corden Z, Boyce M, Arshad H, Holgate S, O’Connor B, Millet S, Miller B, Rohatagi S, Kirkesselli S. Effect of IVL745, a VLA-4 antagonist, on allergen-induced bronchoconstriction in patients with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2005; 116: 761–767
  4. Oliver A, Quinn D, Goldfrad C, van Hecke B, Ayer J, Boyce M. Combined fluticasone furoate/vilanterol reduces decline in lung function following inhaled allergen 23 h after dosing in adult asthma: a randomised, controlled trial. Clin Transl Allergy 2012; 2: 11
  5. Kent S, Boyce M, Diamant Z, Singh D, O’Connor B, Saqqu P, Norris V. The 5-lipoxygenase activating protein inhibitor, GSK2190915, attenuates the early and late responses to inhaled allergen in mild asthma. Clin Exp Allergy 2013; 43: 177–186
  6. Singh D, Boyce M, Norris V, Kent S, Bentley J. Inhibition of the early asthmatic response to inhaled allergen by the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein inhibitor GSK2190915:  a dose-response study.  Int J Gen Med 2013; 6: 897–903.
  7. Cahn A, Boyce M, Mistry S, Musani N, Rambaran C, Storey J, Ventresca P, Michel O. Randomised trial of allergen-induced asthmatic response in smokers and non-smokers: effects of inhaled corticosteroids. Clin Exp Allergy 2015; 45: 1531–1541
  8. Singh D, Leaker B, Boyce M, Nandeuil MA, Collarini S, Mariotti F, Santoro D, Barnes PJ. A novel inhaled phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor (CHF6001) reduces the allergen challenge response in asthmatic patients. Pulm Pharmacol Ther 2016; 40: 1–6