SLICED Study

Study Summary

Clinical manifestations of pediatric appendicitis, including fever, abdominal pain and/or vomiting suggest a systemic inflammatory response to local disease in a child's body. Our team has recently demonstrated that measuring the levels of plasma inflammatory protein mediators (IPMs) helps to distinguish between children with appendicitis from those with non-appendicitis abdominal pain. The goal of  the SLICED study is to explore the local inflammatory changes occurring within appendiceal tissue, and their relationship to the systemic response in a child's body. The SLICED study is using Canada’s first Multiplexed Ion Beam Imaging technology to determine cellular lineage, functional activation and spatial orientation of leukocytes present in pediatric appendix tissue. Additionally, our team will evaluate the relationship of these local cells from appendix tissue to the systemic inflammatory landscape measured by whole blood mass cytometry and plasma IPMs.

Objectives

1. To compare the cellular lineage, functional activation and spatial orientation of leukocytes sub-types that are present in the appendix tissue of children with pathology proven appendicitis versus negative appendectomy
2. To determine the host systemic inflammatory/immune response through measuring lymphocyte sub-types present in the whole blood of children with appendicitis versus negative appendectomy
3. To determine the host systemic response expressed through plasma IPMs of children with appendicitis versus negative appendectomy
4. To determine the relationships between the local and systemic cellular and IPM landscapes in children with appendicitis

Principal Study Investigator: Dr. Graham Thompson

Project Lead: Dr. Beata Mickiewicz

Study Team: Dr. Mary Brindle, Dr. Nils D. Forkert, Dr. Shaunna Huston, Dr. Craig Jenne, Dr. Margaret Kelly, Dr. Karen Kopciuk, Dr. Kathy McCoy