Scleroderma Association of B.C. research
March 2020 Update
SABC funds and co-leads a research study that began recruiting scleroderma patients with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD) in July 2017. Blood samples have also been taken from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) only and both blood and skin samples have been taken from control participants. This research program is creating a firm foundation for intensive research to control lung and skin damage in patients with scleroderma and lung damage in patients with IPF, with the expectation of receiving future support from private donations and, hopefully, research funding agencies.
Research Study Progress
Nov 2017 Collection of blood and skin tissue samples completed and stored in The Scleroderma Biobank at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver
Dec 2017 Skin tissue growth completed
Apr 2018 Extraction of micro-RNA (miRNA) from tissue types
May 2018 Frozen tissue samples from three tissue types transferred to the BC Genome Sciences Centre for sequencing
Jul 2018 miRNA sequence data downloaded for one-third of the samples and quality control (QC) checks started by the scientific team members
Nov 2018 Completion of QC assessment for first two-thirds of the samples
Feb 2019 Completion of QC assessment for last third of the samples and QC examination for pilot study of fourth tissue
May 2019 Completion of differential expression analysis of known miRNA sequences in blood and skin
Aug 2019 Completion of differential expression analysis of known and unknown miRNA sequences in blood, skin, and cultured skin-fibroblasts
Oct 2019 Invention disclosure to UBC, UNBC, and PCH for known miRNA
Dec 2019 Approval from University-Industry Liaison Office to publish results for known miRNA’s in medical literature and encouragement to pursue patent protection for novel miRNA’s
Jan 2020 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab analysis for biochemical pathway predicted by known-miRNA sequencing
Feb 2020 Bioinformatic verification of PCR lab analysis
Mar 2020 Recruitment and sample preparation for verification cohort of miRNA-sequencing and PCR analyses—placed on hold due to Covid-19—biostatistical analysis of existing miRNA and clinical data is continuing
This proof-of-concept study is to discover miRNA sequences and their differential expression amongst six different types of cells. This study is important for the approximately 15,604 Canadians with scleroderma and the approximately 7,045 Canadians with IPF (as confirmed by CT, biopsy, or bronchoscopy). Discovering which miRNA sequences are too low or too high and correcting these imbalances could lead to effective treatment of skin damage in patients with scleroderma and treatment of lung damage in patients with IPF only and in patients with both scleroderma and ILD.
SABC has been behind this project for the last five years. Over $240,000 in donations, including those from the SABC, have been contributed to date. Your donations do make a difference in contributing to research that otherwise would not even be considered for funding for these two orphan diseases.
The research team brings together experts in respirology, rheumatology, bioinformatics, and genetical statistics to uniquely tackle this challenge. The team is led by SABC President Rosanne Queen, SABC past President Bob Buzza, Drs. James Dunne and Kevin Keen. Drs. Raewyn Broady, Robert Holt, Chris Ryerson and Pearce Wilcox round out the scientific research team. Both Rosanne and Bob participate on the leadership team to keep us informed on the progress of this SABC-funded research program and to ensure the interests of patients and their families are at the forefront.
