CF-related metabolic disorders targetted in pioneering lab

Montreal, QC – Biomedical research institution IRCM has created a new clinic subspecialized in the metabolic disorders associated with cystic fibrosis (CF), in collaboration with the CHUM (Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal). The IRCM and the IRCM Foundation also launched the Gosselin-Lamarre Chair in clinical research.

Cystic fibrosis is among the best known rare diseases in Quebec. Today, thanks to research progress, people with cystic fibrosis live longer. However, this can lead to other complications like diabetes. This type of diabetes, different than type 2 diabetes associated with obesity and type 1 juvenile diabetes, can be found in 25 to 40 percent of adults with cystic fibrosis, and significantly increases the morbidity and mortality rates associated with cystic fibrosis.

“This improved life expectancy also leads to metabolic disorders such as osteoporosis, adrenal insufficiency and early menopause,” says Dr. Yves Berthiaume, executive director of the clinic and clinical research at the IRCM and holder of the Gosselin-Lamarre Chair in clinical research. “We wish to study the link, which is still misunderstood, between the emergence and development of these complications and the chronic inflammation associated with the disease. With its new subspecialized clinic, the IRCM will play a pioneering role in the field of cystic fibrosis by having the first clinic in Canada to specialize in the metabolic complications associated to this disease.”

The donations that served to create the Gosselin-Lamarre Chair in clinical research will contribute to setting up this new clinic. Diane and Léon Gosselin and Marie and Guy Lamarre each made a $500,000 donation to support this project, for a total of one million dollars.

“We are very grateful to the Gosselin and Lamarre families for their generosity,” says Dr. Tarik Möröy, IRCM’s president and scientific director. “Their donation will enable us to move forward in our efforts to better understand and treat cystic fibrosis and its associated cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.”