IMPEDE-CF stands for Integrated Monitoring Platform for Early Disease Events in Cystic Fibrosis. This study is being done to understand how lung disease develops in young patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

By collecting clinical information and biological samples from patients at regular intervals, we can monitor how lung disease begins and what are the first changes that occur in the lungs and breathing passages of very young patients with Cystic Fibrosis. This knowledge will provide opportunities for intervention at an early stage before any permanent damage to the lungs and airway walls has occurred.

The combined use of airway samples, blood samples, imaging and lung function measurement provides an in-depth study of young patients with CF and will help us understand the risk factors that may be responsible for development of more severe lung disease at a younger age in some patients with CF. We also plan to compare the results obtained from CF patients from those obtained from patients with other conditions that are of similar age. This includes but is not limited to children with non-CF bronchiectasis. This will help us to compare the mechanisms of development of lung disease in patients with and without CF.

This study will significantly enhance our ability to develop newer methods to monitor and treat early forms of lung disease in patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Rationale

•.  A majority of CF children by age 5 shows significant airway damage

•.  NE presence in CF BAL at age 1 predicts disease progression

•.  Intervening early could impact life-long course of CF airway disease

Key Questions

•.  What are the cellular mechanisms of inflammation and NE release in early CF?

•.  Can we develop sensitive, mechanistic biomarkers to monitor the early disease course in CF when airway damage is still limited?

•.  Can we roll out early disease studies using high-content platform outcomes in multi-center, multi-national settings?

Clinical faculty:
    Lokesh Guglani, MD.  Dr. Guglani initiated the study and directs its clinical aspects
    Arlene Stecenko, MD.  Dr. Stecenko is the Division Chief of Pediatric Pulmonology at Emory and supervises the study

Research faculty:
    Rabindra Tirouvanziam, PhD.  Dr. Tirouvanziam initiated the study and directs its basic science aspects (immunology, cell biology)
    Joshua Chandler, PhD.  Dr. Chandler is the expert in mass spectrometry and redox biology for the study
    Limin Peng, PhD.  Dr. Peng directs the biostatistics for the study

Clinical coordinator:
    George Lucas Silva, BSc.  Lucas joined the IMPEDE-CF study since its inception in 2017

PhD students:
    Camilla Margaroli, MSc.  Camilla joined the IMPEDE-CF study since its inception in 2017
    Vincent Giacalone, BSc.  Vincent joined the study in 2018

The study team can be reached at impede.cf@emory.edu.

 

Alternatively, you can contact:

Principal Investigator: Lokesh Guglani, M.D.

                                       Email: lokesh.guglani@emory.edu

                                       Phone: (404) 712-2324

                                       [In regards to clinical questions]

                                     

                                       Rabindra Tirouvanziam, PhD.

                                       Email: tirouvanziam@emory.edu

                                       Phone: (404) 712-764

                                      [In regards to scientific questions]

 

Research Coordinator: Lucas Silva, BSc.

                                        Email: glsilva@emory.edu

                                        Phone: (404) 727-9266

                                       [ In regards to participation questions]

Articles

1: Margaroli C, Garratt LW, Horati H, Dittrich AS, Rosenow T, Montgomery ST, Frey DL, Brown MR, Schultz C, Guglani L, Kicic A, Peng L, Scholte BJ, Mall MA, Janssens HM, Stick SM, Tirouvanziam R; AREST-CF, and IMPEDE-CF. Elastase Exocytosis by Airway Neutrophils Associates with Early Lung Damage in Cystic Fibrosis Children. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2018 Oct 3. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201803-0442OC. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30281324.

2: Chandler JD, Margaroli C, Horati H, Kilgore MB, Veltman M, Liu HK, Taurone AJ, Peng L, Guglani L, Uppal K, Go YM, Tiddens HAWM, Scholte BJ, Tirouvanziam R, Jones DP, Janssens HM. Myeloperoxidase oxidation of methionine associates with early cystic fibrosis lung disease. Eur Respir J. 2018 Oct 10;52(4). pii: 1801118. doi: 10.1183/13993003.01118-2018. Print 2018 Oct. PubMed PMID: 30190273.

 

Abstracts

1.     Chandler JD, Margaroli C, Horati H, Kilgore MB, Veltman M, Liu HK, Taurone AJ, Peng L, Guglani L, Uppal K, Go YM, Tiddens HAWM, Scholte BJ, Tirouvanziam R, Jones DP, Janssens HM. Methionine oxidation by myeloperoxidase is associated with early cystic fibrosis lung disease. 32nd Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, Denver, CO; 10/2018. [Poster]

2.     Horati H, Margaroli C, Scholte BJ, Veltman M, Peng L, Tiddens HAWM, Gugliani L, Tirouvanziam R, Janssens HM. Expression of the exhaustion marker programmed cell death 1 on airway macrophages correlates positively with early cystic fibrosis lung disease. 32nd Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, Denver, CO; 10/2018. [Poster]

3.     *Horati H, Margaroli C, Garratt L, Giacalone V, Veltman M, Peng L, Tiddens HAWM, Scholte BJ, Gugliani L, Stick S, Tirouvanziam R, Janssens HM. Expression of the exhaustion marker programmed cell death 1 on airway macrophages correlates with early lung disease in cystic fibrosis. 42ndEuropean Cystic Fibrosis Society Conference, Liverpool, UK; 6/2019. [Oral]

May 10th, 2019

On Friday, May 10th, 2019 we held an event to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of the IMPEDE-CF Study. The enrollment for patients started in May 2018 and we have learned a lot from our patients in this one year. At this event, we invited all parents to join us in celebrating this milestone and for interacting with clinical and research teams in person. We took this opportunity to share with them all the findings and publications that have been possible due to their child's participation in this study. We can't thank every family enough for being a part of this incredible journey. For those that were not able to make it to this event, below you will find a link to the presentation by our study team. We apologize that some of the audio towards the end (during the Q&A session) may not be fully audible. 

Event video link