Study to target treatment of CF patients

A study aimed at tailoring cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment to each patient’s particular infection at any one time will begin in Ireland and internationally in the coming years.

At present, when a CF patient acquires a respiratory infection, they are given a more general antibiotic. There are fears this approach has built up patient resistance to antibiotic treatment.

Ireland has the highest rate of CF per head of population in the world. Internationally, the median age for a CF patient to die is between the ages of 32 and 38.

As part of the new study, mucus will be taken from the CF patient at the time of infection and its bacterial DNA will be analysed.

“This will allow a much more individualised profile and more targeted antibiotics and we hope will increase resistance and faster recovery,” said Dr Barry Plant, director of the Adult CF Centre at Cork University Hospital.

“For the first time in chronic infection, we use DNA as a map to recovery.”

The new study is seen as a next generation approach to treating infection. Up to 250 patients across the world will take part in the investigation, with 50 of these from Ireland.

The researchers hope that CF may just be the first disease to be treated in this way, with a whole range of other antibiotic-treated diseases open to inclusion in the future.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the most significant challenges facing the healthcare system in the EU owing to unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics.

Personalised antibiotic treatment could limit the development of anti-microbial resistance globally, by only prescribing those antibiotics that are necessary for an individual patient.

Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland chief executive Phillip Watt said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for Ireland to become a world leader in CF care and drug resistance.

“The success of CFMatters (‘CF Microbiome-determined Antibiotic Therapy Trial in Exacerbations: Results Stratified’) will have important, positive implications for all patients with CF and their families.”

The EU-funded study will be completed over the next three years, with the Irish leg to be undertaken at Cork University Hospital.

CFMatters will receive approximately €6m in funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme.