A Prospective Randomized Trial of ECP in Subclinical AMR (EXPORT-DSA)

March 11, 2024 updated by: Alberto Benazzo, Medical University of Vienna

The Use of Extracorporeal Photopheresis as Immunomodulatory Therapy of Subclinical Antibody-mediated Rejection After Lung Transplantation: a Prospective RCT

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of extracorporeal photopheresis in subclinical antibody-mediated rejection after lung transplantation.The main questions it aims to answer are:

  1. Does ECP therapy result in a significant reduction in MFI (Mean Fluorescence Intensity) from the baseline MFI in clinically stable patients with persistent (>6 months) dnDSAs (MFI>1000)?
  2. What is the impact of ECP therapy on the following outcomes in these patients: ACR, clinical AMR, CLAD, infections, drop-out rate, survival, adverse events?

Participants will be randomized into two groups. Each group will include 40 patients. The control group will be observed and no active treatment will be administered. The treatment group will receive extracorporeal photopheresis. First, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once every second week for the first two months. Then, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once a month for 6 months.

Researchers will compare the two groups regarding: MFI value, development of ACR, clinical AMR, CLAD, infections, survival, adverse events, immunophenotyping, miRNA expression profiling, cytokine expression, gene expression signature of PBMCs and proteomic characterization.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Donor-specific antibodies (DSA) and antibody-mediated rejection have gained significant attention recently due to their serious consequences, but there are limited effective treatments for persistent DSAs in patients without graft dysfunction due to their associated severe side effects. Our center demonstrated that extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) can potentially reduce the mean fluorescence intensity of dnDSAs in recipients with antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), suggesting it as a safe option for treating subclinical AMR with dnDSAs and inducing tolerogenic immunomodulation in this complex population.

The hypothesis underlying the proposed randomized controlled trial is that ECP might have the potential to reduce the burden of de novo donor-specific antibodies after lung transplantation, by modulating host humoral alloresponse and promoting tolerance, without provoking side effects.

Our primary objective is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of ECP in terms of reduction of dnDSAs titer in clinically stable patients with persistent (>6 months) dnDSAs (MFI>1000). As secondary objective, we intend to assess the therapeutic effect of ECP on incidence of clinical AMR, ACR, CLAD, survival and occurrence of infectious complications as well as the rate of adverse effects. Our experimental objectives are to provide an in-depth analysis of the immunological effects of ECP.

80 patients with persistent dnDSAs (> 3 months) with a MFI > 1000 will be randomized into two groups. Each group will include 40 patients. Patients will be stratified according to the presence of HLA-DQ. The control group will be observed and no active treatment will be administered. This is our standard of care in the studied clinical situation. Treatment group will receive extracorporeal photopheresis. First, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once every second week for the first two months. Then, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once a month for 6 months. To elucidate the specific mechanisms of ECP in modulating humoral alloresponse, a series of studies are planned: 1) flow cytometric immunophenotyping, 2) miRNA expression profiling, 3) cytokine expression, 4) gene expression signature of PBMCs, 5) proteomic characterization.

The proposed study aims to address this clinical need by investigating the effects of a safe therapeutic modality such as ECP. This study may have a dual benefit: first, it may reduce the burden of dnDSAs in lung transplant recipients, thereby reducing the incidence of antibody-mediated rejection, and second, it may promote host tolerance to the graft. In addition, we will investigate the immunomodulatory mechanisms of ECP in the context of humoral allogeneic response, which has not been previously investigated.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

80

Phase

  • 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 Backup

Study Locations

  • Austria
      • Vienna, Austria, 1090
        • Recruiting
        • Medical University of Vienna
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Alberto Benazzo, MD PhD

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Bilateral lung transplantation
  • dnDSAs > 3 months with a MFI > 1000
  • No signs of allograft dysfunction
  • Alemtuzumab induction therapy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Inclusion in other studies
  • Retransplantation
  • Multi-organ transplantation
  • > 12 months after transplantation

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group
Treatment group will receive extracorporeal photopheresis. First, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once every second week for the first two months. Then, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once a month for 6 months.
Procedure: Extracorporeal Photopheresis
Patients randomized into the interventional group will receive ECP. ECP will be started within one week after randomization. Initially a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once every second week for the first two months. Then, a two-day treatment cycle will be performed once a month for 6 months.
No Intervention: Control Group
Control group will be observed and no active treatment will be administered. This is our standard of care in the studied clinical situation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduction of dnDSA titer from baseline MFI
Time Frame: 6 months
Difference of MFI values at the start and at the end of the six month period
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incidence of clinical AMR, ACR, CLAD, survival, infectious complications, adverse effects
Time Frame: 6 months
Incidence of clinical AMR, ACR, CLAD, survival, infectious complications, adverse effects
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Medical University of Vienna

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alberto Benazzo, MD PhD, Medical University of Vienna

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)

March 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 9, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 30, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 2, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 12, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 11, 2024

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1578/2023

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

There is not a plan to make IPD available.

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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