Phage Therapy for Recurrent UTIs in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Phase 1/ 2 Trial of Phage Therapy for Recurrent UTIs in Kidney Transplant Recipients

This proposal will take an important first step in the study of phage therapy for treatment of recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) in female kidney transplant recipients (KTR); a common condition that is associated with increasing multidrug resistance, sickness, loss of kidney function and death. The investigators will conduct a randomized phase I/II pilot clinical trial of targeted phage therapy versus placebo in asymptomatic female KTR with a history of rUTI due to Escherichia coli to assess safety, tolerability, and feasibility of this approach, possible efficacy, and changes in the gut and urinary microbiome during the 180 days of the study. This highly innovative and impactful proposal will provide proof of concept data and also inform the design of a subsequent larger phase III clinical trial of phage therapy for rUTI treatment in KTR and will have broad downstream effects within the fields of infectious diseases and transplantation.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Urinary Tract Infection, Recurrent
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: control; Drug: phage therapy

Detailed Description

The overarching hypothesis is that phage therapy directed against E. coli in female KTR is safe and associated with a reduction in UTI event rate via a targeted impact on the gut and urinary microbiome. This is a Phase 1/ 2 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

• A description of methods to be used to minimize bias Participants will be randomized to one of 2 arms - one active intervention phage therapy and the second is active intervention control arm (normal saline placebo). Participants will not be aware of study assignment and the medication delivered to them will look identical - clear 1mL solution in a plastic needless syringe.

• The number of study groups/arms and study intervention duration:

  • Investigators plan to enroll participants that fulfill eligibility criteria until they reach their goal of 16 participants in each arm (total N= 32).

This clinical trial will evaluate the effect of phage only (without concomitant antibiotics) compared to placebo for UTI prevention in asymptomatic female KTR with a history of rUTI. There are no rigorous, published trials testing this approach, nor are there new therapeutics for rUTI in KTR on-market at this time. Most IND cases or trials compare phage plus antibiotic which limits the ability to isolate the contribution from phage to treatment success. The proposed research will utilize a phase I/II pilot trial designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and feasibility of therapy, compare potential efficacy, and assess changes to microbiome profiles in the female participants who will receive either phage or placebo. As the participants will be treated when they are asymptomatic, no active control is needed and so Investigators will use normal saline placebo.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 32
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Saima Aslam, M.D.; Phone Number: (619) 543-3108; Email: rUTIphagestudy@health.ucsd.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • La Jolla, California, United States, 92037
      • Recruiting
      • University of California, San Diego
      • Contact: Saima Aslam, MD; Phone Number: 8586577643; Email: saslam@health.ucsd.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Female kidney transplant recipients, aged 18 and older with a confirmed diagnosis of a history of recurring UTI with E. coli as their typical uropathogen.
2. Two urine culture proven UTIs in prior 6 months or three in prior 12 months due to E coli. UTI is defined as any change in symptoms from baseline urinary comfort (dysuria, hematuria, abdominal/flank pain, increased urinary frequency) or systemic signs of infection (fever, chills, systemic inflammatory reaction syndrome etc.) associated with a positive urine culture with bacterial growth of ≥104 colony forming units/mL).
3. Ability to self-administer study drug (or a family member that will do so) and willing to adhere to the phage therapy regimen.
4. For participants able to become pregnant: use of highly effective contraception for at least 1 month prior to screening and agreement to use such a method during study participation and for an additional 6 months after the end of phage therapy administration.
5. Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
6. Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Presents with hardware in the urinary tract (e.g. stent, percutaneous nephrostomy, chronic urinary catheter).
2. Recipient of >1 kidney transplant.
3. Recipient of Ileal conduit.
4. Recipient of surgical neobladder.
5. Diagnosed with chronic urinary retention requiring self-catheterization.
6. Anatomic cause for rUTI such as ureteral stenosis.
7. Within the first 3 months of kidney transplant.
8. Venous access sites or in whom an existing venous access site needs to be preserved for future need (as per the participant's transplant nephrologist/ surgeon)
9. Diagnosed with active cytomegalovirus or BK virus infections.
10. Current pregnancy, actively trying to conceive, or lactating.
11. Known allergic reactions to phage products.
12. Prisoners or individuals without decisional capacity.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Intervention phage therapy; Clear 1 milliliter (ml) solution in a plastic needless syringe. Phage therapy will consist of twice daily intravenous (IV) dose of previously selected phage combination of at least 109 plaque forming units (PFU)/ ml concentration per phage but not to exceed 5EU/Kg/hr of total lipopolysaccharide endotoxin for the entire dose as per FDA guidelines.	Drug: phage therapy; phage therapy will consist of a combination of three lytic phages that are active against the participant's E. coli isolates and will be administered intravenously twice daily for 7 days.; Other Names: targeted phage therapy
Placebo Comparator: Intervention control arm (normal saline placebo); Clear 1mL solution in a plastic needless syringe. Placebo will consist of IV normal saline administered in the same manner as the active comparator for 7 days.	Drug: control; Participants assigned to the control arm will start a 7-day course of intravenous sterile normal saline (placebo) administered twice daily.; Other Names: placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by CTCAE v4.0	Safety of phage administration will be assessed by the incidence of adverse events (AE) as assessed by CTCAE v4.0. As this is a phase 1/ 2 pilot clinical study, the primary outcome is safety and tolerability of the IP.	180 days
Enrollment Feasibility	Enrollment feasibility of the trial protocol will be assessed by enrollment and randomization (goal is ≥75% of target N at year 1 of the award).	180 days
Proportion of participants with a phage match	Proportion of participants with a phage match will be assessed by the number of enrolled participants with a phage match (goal is ≥70%).	180 days
Study Drug Adherence	Adherence to study drug administration by the participants (goal is ≥90%),	180 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Desirability of Outcome Rankings (DOOR) Score	A graded outcome based on clinical and microbiological parameters	180 days
Proportion of Participants with UTI	The proportion of participants with UTI will be assessed.	180 days
Days to first symptomatic UTI from the original infecting pathogen	The number of days to first symptomatic UTI from the original infecting pathogen will be assessed.	180 days
Microbiological Eradication of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria	The microbiological eradication of asymptomatic bacteriuria will be assessed.	180 days
Need for intravenous (IV) antibiotics	The need for IV antibiotics will be assessed.	180 days
Number of days on antibiotics	The number of days on antibiotics will be assessed.	180 days
Emergency room visit/ hospitalization due to UTI	Any occurrence of emergency room visit/ hospitalization due to UTI will be assessed.	180 days
Change in kidney function from baseline to end of the study period	The change in kidney function from baseline to end of the study period will be assessed via serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate, and occurrence of acute kidney injury.	180 days
Treatment Efficacy	Efficacy of the treatment as measured by the number of UTI events due to the original infecting pathogen over the 180-day study observation period (event rate), calculated for the intent to treat population. As this is a phase 1/ 2 trial, this outcome will give us an efficacy signal.	180 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Diego
• Collaborators: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 15, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 23, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): May 10, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 14, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 11, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Male Urogenital Diseases; Urologic Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Disease Attributes; Infections; Reinfection; Recurrence; Urinary Tract Infections
• Other Study ID Numbers: 809673

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No