Neuroactive Steroids and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in OEF/OIF Veterans

Neuroactive Steroids and TBI in OEF/OIF Veterans

Purpose: Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is extremely common among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) era Veterans. Mild TBI is frequently accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms, co-occurring disorders that contribute to increased disability and decreased quality of life. Neuroactive steroids (NS) represent promising pharmacological candidates for intervention for these diverse symptom domains, since a number of these molecules demonstrate pronounced neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties. The NS pregnenolone (PREG) is a logical therapeutic option, since it enhances learning and memory and also increases myelination in rodent models. Further, decreases in PREG have been associated with depressive symptoms, and PREG is also metabolized to allopregnanolone (ALLO), an anxiolytic downstream NS that is decreased in PTSD. ALLO also enhances neurogenesis in rodents. The investigators thus propose an randomized controlled trial (RCT) in OEF/OIF era Veterans with mild TBI.

Methodology: The design of this study will be randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind. Trial duration will be 10 weeks, consisting of a 2-week placebo lead-in period for all subjects, followed by 8 weeks of treatment with either pregnenolone or placebo. The primary cognitive outcome measure will be executive functioning (as assessed by the Tower of London test), and the primary behavioral outcome measure will be PTSD Cluster D symptoms (as assessed by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, CAPS). The investigators will also determine if PREG administration in OEF/OIF Veterans with mild TBI increases downstream ALLO and/or other GABAergic NS levels, and the investigators will identify the specific metabolism profile of PREG following eight weeks of treatment with this neurosteroid.

Anticipated Findings: The investigators hypothesize that treatment with PREG in OEF/OIF era Veterans with mild TBI will significantly improve executive functioning compared to the placebo condition. The investigators also predict that treatment with PREG will decrease Cluster D PTSD symptoms compared to treatment with placebo.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Brain Injuries, Traumatic
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Placebo; Drug: Pregnenolone

Detailed Description

Purpose: Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is extremely common among OEF/OIF (Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom) era Veterans. Mild TBI is frequently accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms, co-occurring disorders that contribute to increased disability and decreased quality of life. Neuroactive steroids (NS) represent promising pharmacological candidates for intervention for these diverse symptom domains, since a number of these molecules demonstrate pronounced neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties. The NS pregnenolone (PREG) is a logical therapeutic option, since it enhances learning and memory and also increases myelination in rodent models. Further, decreases in PREG have been associated with depressive symptoms, and PREG is also metabolized to allopregnanolone (ALLO), an anxiolytic downstream NS that is decreased in PTSD. ALLO also enhances neurogenesis in rodents. The investigators thus propose an RCT in OEF/OIF era Veterans with mild TBI.

Methodology: The design of this study will be randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind. Trial duration will be 10 weeks, consisting of a 2-week placebo lead-in period for all subjects, followed by 8 weeks of treatment with either pregnenolone or placebo. The primary cognitive outcome measure will be executive functioning (as assessed by the Tower of London test), and the primary behavioral outcome measure will be PTSD Cluster D symptoms (as assessed by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, CAPS). The investigators will also determine if PREG administration in OEF/OIF Veterans with mild TBI increases downstream ALLO and/or other GABAergic NS levels, and the investigators will identify the specific metabolism profile of PREG following eight weeks of treatment with this neurosteroid. A subset of patients will also receive pre/post neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], diffusion tensor imaging [DTI], and quantitative susceptibility mapping/susceptibility tensor imaging [QSM/STI]).

Anticipated Findings: The investigators hypothesize that treatment with PREG in OEF/OIF era Veterans with mild TBI will significantly improve executive functioning compared to the placebo condition. The investigators also predict that treatment with PREG will decrease Cluster D PTSD symptoms compared to treatment with placebo.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 53
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27705
      • Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years to 55 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 21-55 years of age, any ethnic group, either sex
• History of mild TBI since 2001
• The investigators will adhere to the operational definition of mild TBI suggested by the World Health Organization Task Force (Holm et al 2005), with the exception of Glasgow Coma Scale score criteria (not available for these subjects): a.) One or more of the following: confusion or disorientation, loss of consciousness for 30 minutes or less, post-traumatic amnesia for less than 24 hours, and/or other transient neurological abnormalities such as focal signs, seizure, and intracranial lesion not requiring surgery; Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13-15 after 30 minutes post-injury or later upon presentation for health care (GCS unavailable). This WHO diagnostic definition of mild TBI is also consistent with the CDC Report to Congress on Mild TBI in the United States, September 2003 (specifically, altered consciousness attributable to the head injury [=transient confusion, disorientation or impaired consciousness] or self reported loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes or less).
• Ability to participate fully in the informed consent process.
• No anticipated need to alter psychiatric medications for the 10-week duration of the study. Since this study is adjunctive to treatment-as-usual, patients will not be tapered from any psychiatric medications they may be receiving at enrollment.
• No changes in psychotropic or behavioral interventions during the study or in the 4 weeks prior to study enrollment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• For this pilot study, the investigators will diverge slightly from the above WHO definition of mild TBI and exclude patients who report a history of seizures for this investigation. Although no seizures have been reported to the FDA in relationship to pregnenolone use, pregnenolone could theoretically influence seizure threshold if metabolized to its sulfated derivative, which demonstrates negative modulatory actions at GABAA receptors. Since the preliminary data suggest that pregnenolone administration increases the GABAergic neuroactive steroid allopregnanolone five-fold, however, and since allopregnanolone demonstrates marked anticonvulsant activity in a number of animal seizure models, this theoretical risk may be small or non-existent.
• Subjects with current suicidal or homicidal ideation necessitating clinical intervention or representing an imminent concern.
• Concomitant medications for medical conditions will be addressed on a case-by-case base and determined if exclusionary.
• Current DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, or cognitive disorder due to a general medical condition other than TBI.
• Female patients who are pregnant or breast-feeding.
• Known allergy to study medication.
• Substance dependence or abuse (other than nicotine dependence), as determined by MINI assessment.
• Serious unstable medical illness. History of cerebrovascular accident, prostate, uterine or breast cancer.
• Use of oral contraceptives or other hormonal supplementation such as estrogen [although early studies suggested no effects on menstrual cycle, alterations in downstream metabolites of pregnenolone could theoretically impact efficacy of oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement].

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Arm 2; Placebo	Drug: Placebo; Same as active comparator, except placebo dispensed.
Active Comparator: Arm 1; Pregnenolone	Drug: Pregnenolone; Pregnenolone 50 mg BID x 14 DAYS, followed by Pregnenolone 150 mg BID x 14 DAYS, followed by Pregnenolone 250 mg BID x thereafter for the remainder of the 8-week trial

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
CAPS (Cluster D Symptoms) - PRIMARY BEHAVIORAL OUTCOME MEASURE	The CAPS-IV criterion D is defined by persistent symptoms of increasing arousal (not present before the trauma), indicated by at least two of the following: difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, hyper-vigilance, and exaggerated startle response There are two scales, frequency and intensity. Frequency scores range from 0 = "none of the time" to 4 = "most or all of the time" and intensity scores range from 0 = "none" to 4 = "extreme." Severity scores are calculated from the sum of frequency and intensity scores. Five items are included in criterion D, thus the range of severity scores is 0-45. Higher scores are indicative of more symptoms.	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks
Tower of London (Subscale Test of BAC) - PRIMARY COGNITIVE OUTCOME MEASURE	Subscale test asking subjects to determine the minimum number of moves that will be required to make convert one image of colored balls on pegs into a second different image. The test administers 20 items/images, with 2 additional items if all of the first 20 are answered correctly. Thus, scores range from 0-22, with lower scores representing greater impairment. Raw scores are converted to z scores that generally range from -3 to 3, with lower scores again representing greater impairment.	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)	21-item, self-report rating inventory that measures characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression. Scores range from 0 (no depression) to 63 (severe depression).	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks
BAC Composite	Composite z scores (allowing comparison from week 2 to week 10) to assess cognitive changes. The BAC includes brief assessments of executive functions, verbal fluency, attention, verbal memory, working memory and motor speed. z scores are calculated from composite scores. Higher z scores are indicative of better cognitive performance, lower z scores are indicative of lower cognitive performance. Range of z scores anticipated to be between -3 and 3.	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks
CAPS Total Scores	Mean scores in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Scores may range from 0 (no symptoms) to 136 (severe symptoms; score of 136 is based on the first 17 CAPS items administered). A reduced CAPS score indicates a reduction in (improvement) PTSD symptoms, while and increase in CAPS score indicates an increase (worsening) in PTSD symptoms.	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)	The CD-RISC was developed and tested as (i) a measure of degree of resilience, (ii) as a predictor of outcome to treatment with medication or psychotherapy, stress management and resilience-building, (iii) as a marker of progress during treatment, and (iv) as a marker of biological changes in the brain. The scale comprises 25 items, each rated on a 5-point scale (0-4) for a total range of 0-100, with higher scores reflecting greater resilience.	Baseline, 4 Weeks, and 8 Weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Exploratory Neuroimaging Outcome)	Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to assess possible functional brain changes related to attention and emotion circuits associated with the intervention. The dependent measure is the BOLD (fMRI) response to images of faces expressing neutral emotions and fearful emotions.	10 weeks
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (Exploratory Neuroimaging Outcome)	Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to assess possible white matter brain changes associated with intervention.	10 weeks
Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping/Susceptibility Tensor Imaging (Exploratory Neuroimaging Outcome)	Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping/Susceptibility Tensor Imaging (QSM/STI) to assess possible myelin brain changes related to the intervention.	10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): February 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 13, 2011
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 13, 2011
• First Posted (Estimate): April 15, 2011

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 12, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 1, 2019
• Last Verified: September 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Veteran; neurosteroid; brain injuries, traumatic; OEF/OIF; pregnenolone; allopregnanolone
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Craniocerebral Trauma; Trauma, Nervous System; Brain Injuries; Brain Injuries, Traumatic
• Other Study ID Numbers: B4603-I

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No