Professor Parth Narendran FRCP PhD

Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy
Professor of Diabetes Medicine
Honorary Consultant Physician

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 3006
Telephone (2): +44 (0)121 371 4407
Fax: +44 (0)121 415 8712
Email: p.narendran@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @parthnarendran

Address: Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
B15 2TT

Parth is a qualified clinician by background. Parth's research interest focusses on understanding the autoimmune destruction of insulin secreting beta cells that lead to type 1 diabetes and exploring how this process can be modulated.

Recent clinical trials demonstrate that type 1 diabetes can be significantly delayed with a short course of immunotherapy and have revolutionized current thinking around prevention and ‘cure’ of this condition. There is now a pressing need for systems to identify those at risk and for clinical prevention trials of other potential agents. These are Parth's current research interests. He is part of a national effort to explore the feasibility and acceptability of early surveillance programmes for pre-type 1 diabetes and is also exploring which therapies are best tested in the prevention arena.

He has developed an international reputation for exploring whether exercise can be used to modulate the autoimmune process in type 1 diabetes. This has been supported by serial NIHR funding to undertake a clinical trial to test whether exercise preserves beta cell function, and to develop clinical pathways to support patients to adjust insulin and dietary intake for safe and effective exercise. More recently, this work (the EXTOD programme) has been nationally awarded by Diabetes UK, has being adopted by Diabetes Wales as the national programme for exercise and type 1 diabetes and is being rolled out at sites in England.

Parth leads the Diabetes Research Unit and the Type 1 Diabetes clinical service at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications including publications that have been cited by international bodies on Type 1 diabetes and its management. He has served on the Diabetes UK Research Committee and was previously on the Research Advisory Board of the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and Regional Advisory Committee for the NIHR RfPB programme. He currently chairs the grant award panel for The Association of British Clinical Diabetologists. Parth reviews for all the major national and international diabetes journals. He contributes to the NIHR Horizon Scanning, and NICE Medical Technology reviews for new therapies.

Qualifications

FRCP Royal College of Physicians, London, UK
PhD Immunology, University of Bristol
MRCP Royal College of Physicians, London, UK
MBBS Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London
BSc Immunology and Medical Sciences, Kings College, University of London

Biography

Parth undertook his initial immunology research training as part of an intercalated degree. This led to a PhD at the University of Bristol exploring peptide immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, and subsequently to a post-doctoral fellowship exploring immune tolerance at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne.

Parth obtained his basic medical degree in London before completing his higher specialist training in Manchester and Bristol. He took up his current post as an Honorary Consultant Physician at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham in 2005.

Teaching

Lead for MBChB Final Year AIP Medicine

Supervision of academic trainees in diabetes and endocrinology

Lecture: Diabetes Mellitus CEP MBChB1

Lecture: Introduction to Diabetes Endo/Repro BMedSc3

Lecture: Immunology of Diabetes Endo/Repro BMedSc3

Lecture: DKA/Hypoglycaemia AIP MB ChB

SGT: Diabetes CEP MPharm1

Lecture: Pharmacology of Diabetes MPharm1

SGT: Diabetes CEP MBChB1

Practical: Diabetes CEP MBChB1

Postgraduate supervision

Parth has supervised over 10 MD and PhDs on the subject of diabetes and immunology

Research

Parth’s research focuses on type 1 diabetes. His work has extended from bench based investigations, to trials of therapies in individual patients, development of a national biorepository and examination of large datasets. This research has examinined defects in the immune system that predispose to type 1 diabetes, exploring different approaches to preserving the function of insulin producing beta cells, and using ‘big data’ to understand the natural history of type 1 diabetes

Other activities

Parth’s clinical interests focus on type 1 diabetes and he is involved in the structured education programme, the adolescent transition and insulin pump service for University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

Parth is also the Diabetes theme lead for the Birmingham and Black Country Comprehensive Local Research Network.

Publications

Chimen M, McGettrick HM, Apta B, Kuravi SJ, Yates CM, Kennedy A, Odedra A, Alassiri M, Harrison M, Martin A, Barone F, Nayar S, Hitchcock JR, Cunningham AF, Raza K, Filer A, Copland DA, Dick AD, Robinson J, Kalia N, Walker LS, Buckley CD, Nash GB, Narendran P*, Rainger GE*. (*joint senior and corresponding author).Homeostatic regulation of T cell trafficking by a B cell-derived peptide is impaired in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disease. Nature Medicine. 2015 May;21(5):467-75.

Kenefeck R, Wang CJ, Kapadi T, Wardzinski L, Attridge K, Clough LE, Heuts F, Kogimtzis A, Patel S, Rosenthal M, Ono M, Sansom DM, Narendran P, Walker LS. Follicular helper T cell signature in type 1 diabetes. J Clin Invest. 2015 Jan;125(1):292-303.

Narendran P, Neale AM, Lee BH, Ngui K, Steptoe RJ, Morahan G, Madsen O, Dromey J, Jensen KP, Harrison LC. (2006). Proinsulin is encoded by an RNA splice variant in human blood myeloid cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 103(44), 16430-16435.

Nadia Lascar, Amy Kennedy, Beverley Hancock, David Jenkins, Robert C Andrews, Sheila Greenfield, Parth Narendran. Attitudes and barriers to exercise in adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and how best to address them: a qualitative study. PLOS ONE. 2014 Sep 19;9(9):e108019.

Pang TTL, Chimen M, Goble E, Dixon N, Benbow A, Eldershaw SE, Thompson D, Gough SCL, Narendran P. (2013). Reduced adiponectin receptor expression by monocytes in type 1 diabetes (T1D) results in a pro-inflammatory response to islet antigen. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 98(3), 418-428.

Nirantharakumar K, Hemming K, Narendran P, Marshall T, Coleman JJ. (2013). A Prediction Model for Adverse Outcome in Hospitalized Patients With Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 36 (11), 3566-3572.

Penaranda C, Kuswanto W, Hofmann J, Kenefeck R, Narendran P, Walker LS, Bluestone JA, Abbas AK, Dooms H. (2012). IL-7 receptor blockade reverses autoimmune diabetes by promoting inhibition of effector/memory T cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 109(31), 12668-73.

Parth Narendran. An alternative approach to immunomodulation for type 1 diabetes (T1D): antigen specific immunotherapy in utero. Diabetes. 2015 Oct;64(10):3347-9

Narendran P, Solomon TP, Kennedy A, Chimen M, Andrews RC. The time has come to test the beta cell preserving effects of exercise in patients with new onset type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia. 2015 Jan;58(1):10-8.

Kennedy A, Nirantharakumar K, Chimen M, Pang TTL, Hemming K, Andrews RC, Narendran P. (2013) Does exercise improve glycaemic control in type 1 diabetes? A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 8(3), 58861.

M Chimen, A Kennedy, K Nirantharakumar, TT Pang, R Andrews, P Narendran. (2011) What are the health benefits of physical activity in type 1 diabetes mellitus? A literature review. Diabetologia. 55(3), 542-51.

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