Pilot Study: Interest of Belatacept as a Non-nephrotoxic Immunosuppressive Treatment in Cardiac Transplant Patients at Risk of Chronic Renal Failure (BELACOEUR) (BELACOEUR)

January 13, 2026 updated by: Nantes University Hospital

Pilot Study: Interest of Belatacept as a Non-nephrotoxic Immunosuppressive Treatment in Cardiac Transplant Patients at Risk of Chronic Renal Failure

Heart transplantation (TC) is the standard treatment for terminal heart failure. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common complication responsible for increased mortality and morbidity. The main risk factors for progression to CKD are advanced age, pre-transplantation CKD, degradation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in the first year post-transplantation, and nephrotoxicity of calcineurin inhibitors (CNI).

Indeed, these molecules (cyclosporin and tacrolimus), the cornerstone of immunosuppressive treatment, have nephrotoxic effects in the short term (by a hemodynamic effect) and in the long term (by a pro-fibrosin effect).

In renal transplantation (TR), belatacept, a costimulation-inhibiting molecule, used de novo, without CNI, with induction by anti-receptor antibody of Interleukines 2, preserves kidney function. Despite this great advantage, its development is still hampered by a higher number of rejections compared to the CNI group in this originator study. Based on the experience gained in TR, which has since validated its use, the hypothesis is that in heart transplantation, belatacept (Nulojix) combined with minimization of CNI (with induction by antilymphocyte serum), could significantly improve glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in patients at risk of CKD (by removing them from dialysis and possible kidney transplantation) without increasing the risk of rejection.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

25

Phase

  • Phase 2

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 Locations

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Cardiac transplant patients for 3 months Over 18 years of age No Donor Specific Antibodies at inclusion (positive threshold average fluorescence intensity (MFI)> 2000) Having a GFR (DFG in french) is the single best indicator of overall renal function < 30ml/min calculated according to the formula CKD EPI or a decrease in GFR of more than 50% between the day of the heart transplant and 3 months, stable for 15 days.

Induction treatment with anti-lymphocyte serum Virus d'Epstein-Barr positive serology Having signed the consent after receiving informed information Negative pregnancy test for patients of childbearing age, and agreement to use effective contraception throughout the study and 6 weeks after the end of the study Having no difficulty in understanding and communicating with the investigator and his representatives Beneficiaries of a Social Security scheme

Exclusion Criteria:

The criteria for non-inclusion are:

2nd heart transplant or other solid organ transplant History of rejections Cellular or humoral rejection at myocardial biopsy of 3 months post Transplantation Cardiac Current viral infection of type cytomegalovirus, Virus d'Epstein-Barr, hepatitis C virus, hepatitis V virus.....

Human immunodeficiency virus positive serology Ongoing participation in another clinical study Any clinical condition that the investigator considers incompatible with the conduct of the study under acceptable safety conditions: (in particular, progressive infection, progressive cardiovascular complication, progressive neoplastic disease) Inability of the patient to comply with study procedures Pregnant or breastfeeding women Person under guardianship, curators or safeguard of justice

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BELATACEPT
Drug: Belatacept Injection
9 injections of belatacept at 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months 11 months and 12 months post graft

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clearance
Time Frame: 12 months
Determination of plasma creatinine and calculation of clearance according to the formula CKD EPI (Chronic Kidney Disease - Epidemiology Collaboration) at 3 months and 12 months post heart transplantation
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Myocardial biopsies
Time Frame: 12 months
Myocardial biopsies between 3 months and 12 months post Cardiac Transplantation to check the risk of rejection
12 months
Anti-human leukocyte antigen antibody assay
Time Frame: 12 months
To check the risk of rejection
12 months
Fasting blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin (HBA1C)
Time Frame: 12 months
Measurement of the New Onset Diabetes After Transplantation
12 months
Death
Time Frame: 12 months
Evaluate the mortality specific to 12 months post cardiac transplantation (Estimate: percentage of patients who died at 12 months).
12 months
Number of dialysis sessions
Time Frame: 12 months
Evaluate the use of renal replacement therapy between 3 months and 12 months after Cardiac Transplantation.
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Nantes University Hospital

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)

February 6, 2020

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 25, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 25, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

November 27, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RC19_0133

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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