Treatable Traits in Interstitial Lung Disease (TTRILD) Study: The New Frontier

Project Member(s): Hansbro, P., Luckett, T.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF - Preventive and Public Health Research Initiative)
Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF - Preventive and Public Health Research Initiative)

Start year: 2023

Summary: This ground-breaking proposal will bring new approaches to the management of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD). ILD has a prevalence of 67 per 100,000 in women and 89 per 100,000 in men and is characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the distal lung form caused by different etiologies. These include idiopathic lung disease, connective tissue, vasculitis, and occupational lung disease. Given the heterogeneity of ILD, a personalized medicine approach is required to improve patient outcomes. There are no guidelines to date informing health workers about patient-based approaches to ILD. We hypothesize that the identification and management of treatable traits will improve patient outcomes. With our multi-disciplinary expert team of leaders in their respective fields from across Australia, we will identify the pulmonary traits, difficult symptoms, extra-pulmonary traits and high-risk traits in ILD. In a clinical trial we will determine if focused management of these treatable traits have better outcomes and is more cost effective than standard practice. We will incorporate the treatable traits into the multi-disciplinary meeting (MDM) that not only determines diagnosis but will extend the MDM to management. An analysis of patient outcomes will be based on improvements in quality of life, the successful treatment of individual traits and progression of disease as evidenced by progression free survival and mortality. In the second section our study, we will investigate novel molecular treatable traits that would lay the platform for the next generation of treatable traits. These would include cellular and molecular cutting edge technologies analyzing blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the lung. Genetics, circulatory biomarkers, and molecular treatable traits in the lung will be further delineated. Taken together, this proposal will make a significant difference to the management of ILD and move the field substantially forward.

FOR Codes: Respiratory diseases , Treatment of human diseases and conditions

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.