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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Dr
Claire
Steves
claire.j.steves@kcl.ac.uk
Ugochi
Akerele
Ugochi.Akerele@gstt.nhs.uk
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Diverse interactions between environmental, genetic, and epigenetic factors shape individual paths of ageing and disease. In young adulthood, twins are highly similar in most organ structures, but their similarity decreases over time as they are progressively exposed to different environments. Twin studies provide an ideal way to investigate how the body ages and how age-related diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, fatty liver disease, and cancer) develop.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a type of scan that produces detailed images of the inside of the body. MRI enables non-invasive and safe visualisation of age, and disease-related changes in the body, often long before clinical symptoms are perceived. Three significant tissue changes occur gradually with age, which MRI can accurately measure: tissue size decrease, fatty changes, and thickening or scarring of tissue. These biological features/biomarkers, can be used to understand the influence of environmental exposures on ageing and disease.
In this study, we will create organ-specific biomarkers of ageing in adult twins. These can be used to identify twin pair differences related to ageing and disease. We will also create a comprehensive repository of MRI data using protocols harmonised with UK biobank to facilitate subsequent linkage of this with both concurrently acquired samples and historic exposome data in longitudinal twin cohort. This could be the most comprehensive resource of its kind to date.
Volunteers of TwinsUK (UK's largest adult twin Biobank and the most clinically detailed globally), will be invited to take part. Participants will undergo research MRI scans of their brain, spine, heart, abdomen and parts of their skeleton and muscles. A selection of twins with differences in their data will be invited to repeat the MRI scans about two years later to explore longitudinal multi-organ imaging correlates of key environmental exposures based on cross-sectional signals and existing literature.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
Observational type: Genetic epidemiology;
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
a) Pregnancy b) Unable to tolerate MRI Procedures, e.g., claustrophobia, severe anxiety c) Contraindication to MRI Scanning, e.g., presence of non-MR conditional implants d) Any other condition (where declared by the participant) deemed by the Principal Investigator as likely to affect the study outcome.
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by King's College London and funded by THE CHRONIC DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION .
Your feedback is important to us. It will help us improve the quality of the study information on this site. Please answer both questions.
Read full details
for Trial ID: CPMS 57421
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