Eduction in ImmunoSuppressive Regimen Among Kidney Transplant Recipients Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for Septic Shock and/or Acute Respiratory Failure (REDIS)

August 18, 2026 updated by: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

Reduction in ImmunoSuppressive Regimen Among Kidney Transplant Recipients Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for Septic Shock and/or Acute Respiratory Failure: a Multicenter, Open-label, Phase IIb Randomized Controlled Trial

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage chronic kidney disease. Kidney transplantation is at the first rank of solid organ transplantation in France, with 3,376 grafts performed in 2022. Immunosuppressive therapy, required to prevent graft rejection, exposes graft recipients to complications related to decreased immunity, including opportunistic infections and neoplastic complications.

After the earlt post-transplantation period, up to 10% of kidney transplant recipients will require admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The main reasons for admission are septic shock and acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. ICU stay has a significant impact on these patients with a mortality rate reaching 40%, that remains increased even after ICU discharge. Furthermore, an impact on graft function has been demonstrated, with deterioration of graft function in 1/3 of patients, and among those, up to one in two will require resumption of renal replacement therapy (RRT).

Although the occurrence of septic shock or acute respiratory failure related to an infection is more common and severe, the optimal management strategy for immunosuppressors is not defined in kidney transplant recipients admitted to the ICU in those settings.

Maintain a high level of immunosuppressive therapies may hinder the recovery from the acute critical condition. Furthermore, these treatments have a narrow therapeutic index; for instance, the management of calcineurin inhibitors is challenging in the ICU due to pharmacodynamic changes associated with the acute situation (distribution volume, organ failure) and the numerous potential drug interactions that carry inherent risks of overdose.

the investigators hypothesize that a reduction in the level of immunosuppressive treatments could promote recovery in kidney transplant recipients admitted to the ICU for septic shock and/or acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, without adversely affecting the risk of rejection or long-term renal prognosis.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

212

Phase

  • Phase 4

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • - Adult patients, aged 18 years-old and over,
  • Kidney transplant recipients, with transplantation occurring more than 3 months prior to ICU admission
  • Patients admitted to the ICU in the setting of:

    • Septic shock (sepsis requiring vasopressor support, with or without hyperlactatemia),
    • And/or acute respiratory failure of presumed infectious origin (invasive or non-invasive ventilation, FiO2 greater than or equal to 50%),
  • Patients treated with at least an immunosuppressive bitherapy (including steroids, calcineurin inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, azathioprine, or mycophenolate mofetil),
  • Patients affiliated with a social health insurance protection scheme,
  • Patients able of understanding the objectives and risks related to the research and providing a dated and signed informed consent. If patient is unable to consent: consent from relatives will be searched, and if absent, an emergency procedure will be process.
  • Women of childbearing potential, provided they have a negative blood pregnancy test on the day of the inclusion visit.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Minor patients,
  • Patients unable to consent: under legal protection measures, patients deprived of liberty,
  • Kidney transplant recipients treated with Belatacept due to the persistent effect of Belatacept, it is not possible to modulate this treatment in a short term period,
  • Patients with severe chronic graft dysfunction (glomerular filtration rate < 20 ml/min/1.73m² according to the CKD-EPI formula in the month prior to admission),
  • Transplant renal recipients who have already resumed RRT (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis),
  • Multi-organ transplant recipients,
  • Pregnant women

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: reduction of the level of immunosuppression

In this arm, the usual immunosuppressive treatment of the patients will be discontinued.

Patients will receive hydrocortisone hemisuccinate 200 mg per day (slow direct intraveinous injection of 50 mg four times a day, or through an electric syringe pump).

In this arm, the usual immunosuppressive treatment of the patients will be discontinued.

Patients will receive hydrocortisone hemisuccinate 200 mg per day (slow direct intraveinous injection of 50 mg four times a day, or through an electric syringe pump).

Active Comparator: usual immunosuppression maintenance

In this group: patients will receive hydrocortisone hemisuccinate 200 mg per day (slow direct intraveinous injection of 50 mg four times a day, or through an electric syringe pump).

The usual treatment with immunosuppressive agents will be continue: calcineurin inhibitors and/or mTOR inhibitors and/or Azathioprine, and/or Mycophénolate Mofétil (MMF)/Mycophenolice Acide (MPA).

For MMF/MPA, at the discretion of the treating clinicians, dosage may be reduced or drug discontinued.

The hydrocortisone hemisuccinate is a powder and solvent for injectable solution at 100 mg. The powder must be dissolved in the solvent to ensure final isotonicity. The solution must be used within 24 hours. The injection is performed as a slow direct IV injection, either via an electric syringe pump or as a bolus of 50 mg every 6 hours

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The primary endpoint is the rate of patients showing a change in the SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) score of at least 4 points
Time Frame: Day 5
SOFA score is a usual score used to assess gravity and its evolution among critically ill patients (ICM 1996)
Day 5

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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)

August 11, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 11, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 17, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 18, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 18, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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