Use of Melatonin for Neuroprotection in Asphyxiated Newborns (MELPRO)

October 10, 2019 updated by: Anna Tarocco, University Hospital of Ferrara

Use of Melatonin for Neuroprotection in Term Infants With Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy

Protection of brain development is a major aim in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) occurs in 3-5 per 1000 births. Only 47% of neonates have normal outcomes. The neurodevelopmental consequences of brain injury for asphyxiated term infants include cerebral palsy, severe intellectual disabilities and also a number of minor behavioural and cognitive deficits. However, there are very few therapeutic strategies for the prevention or treatment of brain damage. The gold standard is hypothermic treatment but, according to the literature, melatonin potentially acts in synergy with hypothermia for neuroprotection and to improve neurologic outcomes. Melatonin appears to be a good candidate because of its different protective effects including reactive oxygen species scavenging, excitotoxic cascade blockade, modulation of neuroinflammatory pathways.

The research study will evaluate the neuroprotective properties and the effects of Melatonin in association with therapeutic hypothermia for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

It is a randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial on 100 neonates with moderate to moderately to severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) . HIE infants are randomized into two groups: Whole body cooling group (N = 50 receive 72 hours of whole body hypothermia) and melatonin/ hypothermia group (N = 50; receive hypothermia and 5 daily enteral doses of melatonin 10 mg/kg). Serum melatonin and autophagy levels are measured at enrollment, daily during the hypothermic treatment, at day 5 and 7 for the two HIE groups.

aEEG will be performed for 72 hrs during the hypothermic treatment and the re-warming. MRI and Spectroscopy analysis will be performed between day 5 and 7 of. After hospital discharge the infants will enter a follow-up program consisting in periodic clinical and developmental assessments until 2 years of age corrected for prematurity. An expert psychologist and a neonatologist will assess neurodevelopmental outcome using the Bayley Scales III at 6-12-24 months of corrected age.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
100

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • Holy See (Vatican City State)
      • Vatican City, Holy See (Vatican City State)
        • Recruiting
        • Ospedale Pediatrico Bambin Gesù
        • Contact:
          • Immacolata Savarese, MD
        • Contact:
          • Andrea Dotta, MD
  • Italy
      • Bolzano, Italy
        • Recruiting
        • ospdale di Bolzano
        • Contact:
          • Elisabetta Chiodin, MD
        • Contact:
          • Alex Staffler, MD
      • Cesena, Italy
      • Ferrara, Italy, 44124
        • Recruiting
        • University Hospital "Sant'Anna" of Ferrara
      • L'Aquila, Italy
        • Recruiting
        • Ospedale San Salvatore
        • Contact:
          • Eugenia Maranella, MD
        • Contact:
          • Sandra Di Fabio, MD
      • Rimini, Italy, 47923
        • Recruiting
        • Infermi Hospital Rimini

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

3 years to 3 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • gestational age > 35 weeks and weight > 1800 gr
  • Apgar score < 5 at 10 minutes o need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation at 10 minutes or evidence of base excess > 12 mmol/L or pH < 7,0 at initial blood gas analyses
  • evidence of moderate or severa encephalopathy graded according to Sarnat&Sarnat neurological evaluation
  • abnormal amplitude integrated electroencephalography

Exclusion Criteria:

  • suspected inborn errors of metabolism
  • major chromosomal congenital defects

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: HYPOTHERMIA / MELATONIN group
HIE infants who will receive melatonin in addition to the routine cooling treatment
Dietary supplement: Melatonin
5 daily enteral doses of melatonin 10 mg/kg. (=2 ml/kg)
Other Names:
  • Buona Circadiem
Experimental: HYPOTHERMIA / PLACEBO group
HIE infants who will not receive melatonin in addition to the routine cooling treatment
Other: PLACEBO group
5 daily enteral doses of placebo 2 ml/kg
Other Names:
  • placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bayley III scale
Time Frame: 12 months

Bayley scale of infant and toddler development. It measures developmental skills reached by infant and young children between 1 month and 42 months The scale is subdivided into 5 subscales Cognitive,Receptive communication,Expressive communication,Fine motor ,Gross motor.Receptive and expressive communication have a composite in language score So as fine and gross motor in motor score For all subtests raw scores correspond to scaled scores ranging from 1 to 19 with a mean of 10 and SD of 3 The composite scores are given by the sum of the corresponding subtests scaled scores.

Two parent-reported scales (Social-Emotional and Adaptive Behavior) will be collected.
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
brain MRI
Time Frame: between the 5th and 7th days of life
to evaluate the presence of deep grey matter, PLIC, white matter, brainstem and hippocampus lesions
between the 5th and 7th days of life
continuous aEEG
Time Frame: Continuous monitoring for the first 72 hours and for the rewarmed
Al Naqueeb classification for aEEG will be used.Background voltage pattern will be scored in NORMAL (Lower margin >5μV,Upper margin >10μV The activity is continuous), MODERATELY ABORMAL (Lower margin <5μV, upper margin >10μV,The activity is moderately discontinuous)SEVERELY ABNORMAL/ SUPPRESSED (Lower margin <5μV, upper margin <10μV)
Continuous monitoring for the first 72 hours and for the rewarmed
Plasma Concentration of Melatonin
Time Frame: at birth, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 5 days, 7 days of life
UPLC-Massa Acquity-Xevo TQD (Waters) will be used to measure melatonin concentrations in the plasma
at birth, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 5 days, 7 days of life
ATG5 Plasma concentration
Time Frame: at birth, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 5 days, 7 days of life
ELISA test will be used to measure plasma levels of ATG5
at birth, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 5 days, 7 days of life

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Hospital of Ferrara

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
AUSL Romagna Rimini

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Anna Tarocco, MD, University Hospital Of Ferrara

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 13, 2018

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 31, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 14, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 14, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
October 11, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
October 10, 2019

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
October 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 23/2018/SPER/AOUFE

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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