Chikungunya Arthritis in the Americas

A Pilot Study of the Pathogenesis of Chikungunya Arthritis in the Americas

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral illness that leads to chronic joint pain in approximately one half of patients. The mechanisms leading to long term arthritis in humans has not been well established. There is some evidence from animal studies that activated macrophages with persistent viral infection may play a role in chronic arthritis however these mechanisms have not yet been identified in humans. It is hypothesized that activated macrophages harboring persistent active chikungunya virus are responsible for chronic arthritis and joint pain in patients. The focus of this proposal is to evaluate synovial fluid and blood for direct viral persistence and activated macrophages that may clarify the mechanism of inflammatory injury. The results of this study will be directly applicable to tailoring trials of therapeutics.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Arthritis; Chikungunya
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Venipuncture for blood draw; Procedure: Arthrocentesis for synovial fluid draw

Detailed Description

Chikungunya is rapidly spreading throughout the Americas and causes debilitating chronic arthritis in approximately one fourth of patients. There is currently no standard treatment for chikungunya arthritis, and the mechanisms leading to this chronic arthritis are unclear. Further characterization of the disease pathophysiology is needed in order to guide evaluation of potential therapeutics. It is hypothesized that chronic chikungunya arthritis is due to persistence of active virus in the synovial fluid where macrophages serve as a viral reservoir. The predominance of activated macrophages in persistently infected tissue and the presence of viral genome within these macrophages in non-human primates makes our hypothesis plausible. To test this hypothesis, this study has three Specific Aims. Aim 1, describe host characteristics affect susceptibility to severe or persistent arthritis. Aim 2, determine if chikungunya virus persists in synovial fluid and synovial fluid macrophages in humans as shown in non-human primates. Aim 3, investigate how these macrophages may be activated and modulated by cytokines. To date, these pathophysiologic factors have not been well characterized in humans. Information gained from this study can directly lead to recommendations for the further evaluation of antiviral versus immune modulating medications.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 50

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients living in Baranquilla, Colombia during the study period.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• There will be three cohorts of patients.

  • Cohort 1 Chronic chikungunya: Twenty participants with chronic chikungunya with knee effusion defined as continued knee joint effusion at least three months after diagnosis of chikungunya.
  • Cohort 2 Acute chikungunya: Ten participants with acute chikungunya defined as clinical symptoms of chikungunya with acute fever >38°C and joint pain within 10 days the onset of symptoms without other more likely diagnosis or laboratory confirmed chikungunya.
  • Cohort 3 Healthy controls: Five healthy participants will participate that will provide baseline measurements of the cytokine profile and mononuclear cell sample recovery.

All subjects will be adults ≥18 years old. Cohort 1 participants will only be enrolled in the study if they have a knee effusion at baseline presentation. Laboratory confirmation of chikungunya includes positive viral PCR or positive IgM antibody. All patients will be able to understand and give informed consent in Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants will be excluded if they have a known bleeding disorders or if they are on warfarin, clopidogrel, and ticagrelor therapy they will be excluded for increased bleeding risk.
• The study will also exclude children, adults unable to give consent, prisoners, and pregnant women.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
CHRONIC CHIKUNGUNYA; Twenty participants with chronic chikungunya defined as continued knee joint effusion at least three months after diagnosis of chikungunya will be enrolled in the study.	Procedure: Venipuncture for blood draw; Samples will include blood. Blood samples will be collected via venipuncture.This is a part of standard of care of new new onset joint effusion and is not a novel intervention.; Procedure: Arthrocentesis for synovial fluid draw; Samples will include joint fluid analysis in participants with a knee effusion. Synovial fluid will be drawn via arthrocentesis under sterile conditions. This is a part of standard of care of new new onset joint effusion and is not a novel intervention.
ACUTE CHIKUNGUNYA; Ten participants with acute chikungunya defined as clinical symptoms of chikungunya with acute fever and joint pain within 10 days the onset of symptoms.	Procedure: Venipuncture for blood draw; Samples will include blood. Blood samples will be collected via venipuncture.This is a part of standard of care of new new onset joint effusion and is not a novel intervention.
HEALTHY CONTROLS; Five healthy controls will have only blood drawn once.	Procedure: Venipuncture for blood draw; Samples will include blood. Blood samples will be collected via venipuncture.This is a part of standard of care of new new onset joint effusion and is not a novel intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Presence of chikungunya virus in the synovial fluid of chronic arthritis patients	Assess the joint for persistence of the chikungunya virus	Participants will be followed for the duration of a clinic visit which has an expected average time of 1-2 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Disease Severity Measured by Disease Activity Score-28 Validated Composite Measure	Disease Severity Measured by Disease Activity Score-28 Validated Survey that is a series of questions about disease severity that gives a composite score for arthritis severity and C-reactive protein level measured in mg/L.	Participants will be followed for the duration of a clinic visit which has an expected average time of 1-2 hours
Inflammatory Cytokine Levels	Inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10, IL-6, GM-CSF, TNF, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-13 in units of pg/ml will be assessed and compared between acute and chronic patients.	Participants will be followed for the duration of a clinic visit which has an expected average time of 1-2 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: George Washington University
• Collaborators: Global Disease Research; Broad Institute; US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; Allied Research Society
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aileen Y Chang, MD MSPH, George Washington University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chang AY, Martins KAO, Encinales L, Reid SP, Acuna M, Encinales C, Matranga CB, Pacheco N, Cure C, Shukla B, Ruiz Arteta T, Amdur R, Cazares LH, Gregory M, Ward MD, Porras A, Rico Mendoza A, Dong L, Kenny T, Brueggemann E, Downey LG, Kamalapathy P, Lichtenberger P, Falls O, Simon GL, Bethony JM, Firestein GS. Chikungunya Arthritis Mechanisms in the Americas: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Chikungunya Arthritis Patients Twenty-Two Months After Infection Demonstrating No Detectable Viral Persistence in Synovial Fluid. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2018 Apr;70(4):585-593. doi: 10.1002/art.40383. Epub 2018 Mar 7.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): August 27, 2016
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): June 1, 2017
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): June 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 29, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 3, 2015
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): June 4, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): June 27, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 25, 2017
• Last Verified: June 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Joint Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Arbovirus Infections; Vector Borne Diseases; Alphavirus Infections; Togaviridae Infections; Arthritis; Chikungunya Fever
• Other Study ID Numbers: 20150352