Health Research Board

The HRB tracks the outcomes of its funded research on an ongoing basis in a systematic way to ensure we keep abreast of developments arising from this research. Each year the HRB publishes the ‘Picture of Health’ report, a compendium of lay stories describing the findings of research funded by the HRB over the previous years. For more information and a link to the report click here

Included below is a selection of some recent outcomes arising from HRB-funded research, some of which were featured in national newspapers and attracted significant media interest.

Prediction test for breast cancer is validated

A new test that could help some women with breast cancer avoid unnecessary chemotherapy has been validated and recommended for use.

Developed by a team led by Prof Joe Duffy, a cancer researcher at St Vincent's University Hospital (SVUH) and UCD Conway Institute, the test can help predict whether a tumour will spread to other sites in the body. The approach is now poised to help tailor the treatments of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The test measures levels of a key enzyme called uPA in breast tumour tissue.The enzyme plays a key role in metastasis, or spread of the cancer from the primary tumour in the breast to other sites such as the brain, bones, liver and lungs. These cancers at distant sites are generally the cause of death. Prof Duffy developed the test with Prof Niall O'Higgins and Dr Enda McDermott 10 years ago at SVUH on the basis of HRB funding.

Now following studies of more than 8,000 patients, uPA screening has just been recommended by the respected American Society of Clinical Oncology, which is effectively a worldwide recommendation.

TCD's Coeliac disease breakthrough

A new breakthrough involving Irish patients and researchers is shedding light on why some people develop coeliac disease. The study, which was published last week in Nature Genetics, identifies seven genetic regions that differ between people who have coeliac disease and people who don't.

Coeliac disease has long been known to have a genetic component in the form of a molecule that ties into the body's self-recognition system, explains Dr Ross McManus, a senior lecturer at Trinity College Dublin's Institute of Molecular Medicine. "But 30 per cent of the population have that molecule, so it's not that everyone with that molecule gets the disease. What we haven't known are all the other genes that are causing this susceptibility," he explains.

McManus was one of the lead researchers on an international project to compare maps of DNA samples taken from thousands of coeliacs and "controls", or people without coeliac disease.

They identified seven genetic regions that differed between the groups and are now homing in to see what those areas contain. "This is our first major insight into what these other genes are," says McManus.

Important pregnancy research taking place in CUMH

An Irish hospital will participate in an international research project aimed at developing tests which can identify pregnant women at risk of developing serious complications in pregnancy, including the life-threatening pre-eclampsia.

Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) has begun assessing the first of 3,000 women who will take part in the study over the next three years with a view to adding the findings to an international study being undertaken in Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK.

The Screening for Obstetric and Pregnancy Endpoint programme, which is being conducted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University College Cork (UCC), will involve voluntary participants being assessed by a team of doctors, scientists and midwives.

According to consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist and Health Research Board (HRB) clinician scientist, Dr Louise Kenny, who heads up the UCC research team, the Irish study, which has received €1.6 million funding from the HRB, will contribute significantly to the overall study.

Data will be collected for the first three years and researchers will spend the fourth year collating and studying the findings, in the hope of developing tests which will identify women most at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, said Dr Kenny.

Powerful new test for brain disorder

A Trinity College research team has developed a powerful new indicator of developing Alzheimer's disease. The test is highly accurate but more importantly, it warns of the disease long before a patient begins to show signs of the condition.

"Alzheimer's is now the fourth largest cause of death and by 2040 it will become the leading cause worldwide, ahead of heart disease, cancer and stroke," states Prof Harald-Jürgen Hampel, Trinity's professor of psychiatry and principal investigator in its Institute of Neuroscience.

His research group, which is funded by the Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland and bodies such as the Alzheimer's Association of the US, focuses on delivering an earlier diagnosis of the disease. "We use high-resolution neuro-imaging at the Trinity College Institute of Neurology (TCIN) and we also study protein markers that give an indication of the disease."

Prof Hampel's research team managed to track down a promising protein candidate for the disease known as p-tau 231 (phosphorylated-tau 231). "It is a protein you detect in cerebrospinal fluid. It is a marker of a central disease mechanism and it seems to be entirely associated with Alzheimer's and not with other neurological diseases," he says. "If you have an increased level of p-tau 231 you are more likely to develop Alzheimer's in the next year."

Finding the marker was one challenge but developing a test for it was another, he says. "It took 10 years to develop a bio-assay to detect the protein. It is very difficult to detect because it is so small and it is not highly concentrated [ in cerebrospinal fluid]." He knows his test works because of the results from a new international multi-centre study published in the December issue of the journal Neurology. The test is hugely important because it provides an early warning of the presence of Alzheimer's and therefore allows the elimination of other causes of mild cognitive impairment.

A community based intervention programme for depression and suicidal behaviour: a pilot study

Recent findings from a HRB funded pilot study, led by Dr Ella Arensman of the National Suicide Research Foundation, examining the efficacy of a 4-level community-based intervention programme addressing diagnostic and therapeutic deficits related to the assessment and treatment of depression and suicidal behaviour in Ireland has highlighted:

1)     the need for increased awareness on depression and suicidal behaviour among the general public, in particular among men.

 2)      the positive significant effects of gatekeeper training programmes to increase the awareness of community Facilitators on depression and suicidal behaviour.

 3)      a need for more support for GP’s  in dealing with patient suicide and other sudden deaths, both at a professional and personal level

 The research findings from this pilot study were incorporated to the Reach Out, National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention, 2005-2014, and Vision for Change, Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy.

Manuka Honey as a wound treatment

A HRB-funded project, examining the use of honey in the healing of wounds has made a potentially significant breakthrough in the battle against chronic wounds.  Dr. Georgina Gethin initiated the study when she was a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Sligo General Hospital and was awarded a HRB Fellowship to conduct a RCT (Randomised Controlled Trial) using Manuka honey in the treating of chronic leg ulcers.

The effects of Active Manuka honey in the cleansing (debridement) and healing rates of wounds, as well as in antimicrobial activity, were compared to the effects of a standard hydrogel, both under compression, over a 12-week period. After the treatment period, it was determined that the group treated with honey experienced a higher rate of debridement (removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue), significantly faster healing and reduced infection than in the group treated with the standard gel. Particularly striking in the study, was the information about effectiveness of Active Manuka Honey on wounds with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Of 10 wounds that were affected with MRSA at the start of the study, seven of the wounds showed no presence of the bacteria after just four weeks of treatment with Manuka honey. These initial results, from a RCT using active Manuka honey in the dressing of wounds points to a possibly significant breakthrough in the battle against the hospital superbug, MRSA.

The positive effects of exercise on cognitive function

Most of us know that physical exercise is good for our general health, but research has now shown that physical exercise is also good for your brain. It improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline.  Research led by Dr Áine Kelly and her team at TCD, have shown that short periods of exercise can enhance the function of the hippocampus, a brain structure important for cognitive functions such as learning and memory.

Dr Kelly’s study revealed that:

  -  both short and long-term exercise can enhance cognitive function in middle-aged and aged rats via neurotrophin-linked mechanisms

  -  neurotrophin proteins are key cellular regulators of the exercise-induced improvements observed in the brains of animals of various ages.

The research shows that that the aged brain retains high levels of plasticity i.e. the ability of the brain to change or adapt in response to experience and suggests a cellular mechanism by which a simple lifestyle intervention such as exercise may enhance cognitive function.  The research team hope that elucidation of these signalling pathways may open a new avenue that will, in part, facilitate the development of novel drug targets.  The potential role of neurotrophins in this process may, in the long term, have implications for the quality of life of the aged in our society