ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00244361Updated May 10, 2011

Effectiveness of Rituximab in Pediatric OMS Patients.

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of rituximab in Opsoclonus-myoclonus Syndrome, Opsoclonus and Myoclonus, sponsored by National Pediatric Neuroinflammation Organization, Inc.. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 6 Months to 19 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2011-05-10.

Sponsored by National Pediatric Neuroinflammation Organization, Inc. · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
25
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
6 Months to 19 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to reduce the symptoms of OMS by testing rituximab (Rituxan®), to remove B lymphocytes that make antibodies and trigger brain inflammation. Evidence suggests that autoimmune brain inflammation causes the symptoms of OMS. This study of blood and spinal fluid intends to find out what effect rituximab has on OMS and on the spinal fluid B-cells.

Rituximab targets and destroys B-cells, which make antibodies that can attack the brain and cause may OMS. It is infused through a vein over a period of several hours. Rituximab has been used widely and studied extensively since its approval in 1997 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for non-Hodgkin's B-cell Lymphoma (NHL). Today, more than 300,000 patients have received rituximab, and it is part of more than 200 completed, ongoing, or planned clinical trials. Rituximab is not FDA-approved for OMS.

Read the detailed description

Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome (OMS) is a rare but pervasive, paraneoplastic neurological disorder, purported to be autoantibody-mediated. We demonstrated expansion of B-cells in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite tumor resection, chemotherapy, or conventional immunotherapy. Whether B-cells can be purged from the CSF compartment with benefit to the patient is unknown. Targeting of CSF B lymphocytes represents a novel and valuable paradigm shift in the therapy of centrally-mediated paraneoplastic disorders. The objective of this preliminary study is to determine if rituximab, a monoclonal antibody against CD20+ B-cells, reduces or eliminates CSF B-cells in OMS and whether the reduction results in clinical improvement. B lymphocyte subsets and relevant T-cell subsets will be immunophenotyped in the CSF and peripheral blood of children with OMS by four-color dual-laser flow cytometry. Sixteen children with an increased percentage of CSF B-cells will be treated with rituximab 375 mg/m2 IV once weekly for four consecutive weeks and CSF testing will be repeated at six months with more frequent clinical evaluations and blood testing out to 12 months. Clinical outcome will be rated blindly from videotapes by an experienced observer using a validated 12-item motor evaluation scale and quantifiable parameters of sleep, behavior and motor function. Immunological outcome variables will include percentages of B-cell subsets and quantitative immunoglobulins. Post-treatment results will be compared to pre-treatment values statistically. If rituximab proves to be an efficacious and safe method of treating CSF B-cell expansion and the neurological syndrome, this study will lead to a phase II trial with the eventual aim of gaining FDA approval of rituximab for this indication.

02

Conditions studied

  • Opsoclonus-myoclonus Syndrome
  • Opsoclonus
  • Myoclonus
  • Ataxia

Keywords

  • opsoclonus
  • myoclonus
03

In context

Ocular Motility Disorders

58 studies on the registry are indexed under Ocular Motility Disorders; 20 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 25 is below the median of 91 across 40 interventional studies indexed under Ocular Motility Disorders.

Browse Ocular Motility Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

National Pediatric Neuroinflammation Organization, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
6 Months to 19 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • written consent from parents
  • have symptomatic OMS
  • have CSF B-cell expansion (>1% B-cells)
  • adequate renal function as indicated by normal BUN [10-25 mg/dL] and creatinine [0.4-1.2 mg/dL]
  • adequate liver function, as indicated by up to 2x normal [0-35 U/L] and ALT [0-35 U/L].
  • men and women of must agree to use an acceptable method of during treatment and for twelve months after completion of treatment

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • treatment with any agent within 4 weeks of screening or 5 half-lives of the investigational drug (which ever is longer)
  • receipt of a within 4 weeks prior to enrollment
  • previous treatment with Rituximab
  • prior antibody therapy (does not include IVIg) within past 6 months
  • history of severe allergic or anaphylactic reactions to humanized or murine monoclonal antibodies
  • history of (patients considered high risk will be screened)
  • history of and/or (patients considered high risk will be screened)
  • history of recurrent significant infection or history of recurrent bacterial infections
  • known active bacterial, viral fungal mycobacterial, or other infection (including tuberculosis or atypical mycobacterial disease, but excluding fungal infections of nail beds) or any major episode of infection requiring hospitalization or treatment with i.v. antibiotics within 4 weeks of screening or oral antibiotics within 2 weeks prior to screening
  • pregnancy (a negative serum pregnancy test should be performed for all women of within 7 days of treatment)
  • significant cardiac (symptomatic arrhythmias or symptomatic structural heart disease) or pulmonary disease (including obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • concomitant chemotherapy
  • : >13.5 gm/dL or \<10.0 gm/dL
  • : \<100,000/mm or >500,000/mm K/cumm
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
25 participants (actual)

Interventions

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Determine the effectiveness & selectivity of rituximab at depleting CSF B-cells in OMS with intrathecal B-cell expansion. This requires CSF & blood lympocyte immunophenotyping prior to the first infusion & intervals for 1 year after the final infusion.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Evaluate the clinical efficacy & safety of rituximab by clinical assessments, scoring of videotapes for neurological severity, and various blood tests prior to the first infusion and then at one, three, six, and twelve months post the final infusion.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • National Pediatric Myoclonus Center, Department of Neurology, SIU School of Medicine, 751 N Rutledge St
    Springfield, Illinois 62794, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Travelstead AL, Verhulst SJ. Chemokine/cytokine profiling after rituximab: reciprocal expression of BCA-1/CXCL13 and BAFF in childhood OMS. Cytokine. 2011 Mar;53(3):384-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2010.12.004. Epub 2011 Jan 5. Erratum In: Cytokine. 2017 Jun;94:60. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2016.07.011. PubMed 21211990 ↗
  • Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Verhulst SJ, Bertolone SJ, Bhatla D, Granger M, Lebowizc J, Lockhart SK, Wiley JM. Pediatric dosing of rituximab revisited: serum concentrations in opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2010 Jul;32(5):e167-72. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0b013e3181cf0726. PubMed 20606544 ↗
  • Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Travelstead AL, Colliver JA. Long-term cerebrospinal fluid and blood lymphocyte dynamics after rituximab for pediatric opsoclonus-myoclonus. J Clin Immunol. 2010 Jan;30(1):106-13. doi: 10.1007/s10875-009-9335-3. Epub 2009 Oct 17. PubMed 19838774 ↗
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Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Jun 2005, a primary completion of Dec 2007 and a completion of Dec 2007. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Oct 24, 2005
First posted
Oct 26, 2005
Start
Jun 2005
Primary completionActual
Dec 2007
CompletionActual
Dec 2007
Last update
May 10, 2011
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 10, 2011, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00244361
Lead sponsor
National Pediatric Neuroinflammation Organization, Inc.
Collaborators
Genentech, Inc.
First posted
Oct 26, 2005
Start date
Jun 2005
Primary completion
Dec 2007
Completion
Dec 2007
Last update
May 10, 2011

Study contacts

Michael R Pranzatelli, M.D.
principal investigator · National Pediatric Neuroinflammation Organization, Inc.

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in May 2011. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Rituximab

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