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CompletedNCT03112655DiTECT-WP4Updated Feb 21, 2021

Diagnostic Tools for Human African Trypanosomiasis Elimination and Clinical Trials: Early Test-of-cure

An interventional study of RNA and neopterin detection in African Trypanosomiasis, African; Trypanosomiasis, West and Sleeping Sickness; West African, sponsored by Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement. Completed at 1 site in Congo, The Democratic Republic of the. Open to participants aged 15 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-02-21.

Sponsored by Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
88
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
15 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The study validates the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid neopterin quantification and of blood and cerebrospinal fluid trypanosomal spliced leader RNA detection for assessing outcome after treatment of human African trypanosomiasis.

Read the detailed description

In the last decade, the prevalence of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) has fallen and HAT has been targeted for elimination. Development of safe and efficacious drugs for HAT, applicable in an elimination context, is considered as a high priority. The drug developmental process is however slowed down by the need to follow-up treated patients for 18 months to decide on cure. For timely diagnosis of treatment failure in clinical trials, patients should have control visits with follow-up examinations at 6, 12 and 18 months after treatment. Furthermore, due to repeated lumbar punctures, treated patients refrain to present for control visits spontaneously, and tend not to comply with follow-up. Clinical trials on new drugs for HAT would therefore be accelerated by availability of an early test of cure. Trypanosomal spliced leader (SL)-RNA, neopterin \& 5-hydroxytryptophan are good candidates for accurate and shortened treatment follow-up. In particular SL-RNA detection in blood offers an opportunity for non-invasive post-treatment follow-up.

The objective of the DiTECT-HAT-WP4 study is to validate the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid neopterin \& 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification and of blood and cerebrospinal fluid trypanosomal spliced leader RNA detection for assessing treatment outcome. The DiTECT-HAT-WP4 study is embedded into an ongoing therapeutic phase II/III study (DNDi-OXA-02-HAT) testing a new oral single dose drug against HAT. Within the Framework of the therapeutical trial, patients will have post-treatment examinations, including blood and cerebrospinal fluid examination at day 11, and during follow-up at month 6, month 12 and month 18. Combination of DiTECT-HAT-WP4 with this ongoing clinical trial allows evaluation of new treatment outcome assessment markers during follow-up without the need for additional lumbar or venipunctures. The volumes of venous blood and cerebrospinal fluid taken will be increased by 2.5 mls for the DiTECT-HAT-WP4 study.

Reverse transcriptase real time PCR for spliced leader RNA detection in blood and cerebrospinal fluid and neopterin detection will be carried out in the reference laboratory in Kinshasa, (index tests). The reference laboratory will be blinded to the results of the reference standard. For evaluation of diagnostic performance of the index tests, the reference standard will consist of classification of treatment outcome according to international standards applied for the clinical trial. Receiver operator curves, sensitivity and specificity of the different index tests for treatment outcome assessment will be determined at each follow-up time point. If sufficiently accurate, trypanosomal spliced leader RNA detection in blood would allow post-treatment follow-up without the need for lumbar punctures. Improved treatment outcome assessment will not only facilitate follow-up by avoiding the feared lumbar puncture but also speed up the development and implementation of new drugs. In addition, it will also improve management of patients in routine. The proposed research will impact on clinical decision and treatment outcomes, and contribute to successful HAT elimination.

02

Conditions studied

  • African Trypanosomiasis
  • African; Trypanosomiasis, West
  • Sleeping Sickness; West African
  • Trypanosoma Brucei Gambiense; Infection

Keywords

  • diagnosis
  • sensitivity
  • specificity
  • therapeutic outcome
  • cerebrospinal fluid
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
15 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Eligible for participation in DNDi-OXA-02-HAT clinical trial

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Excluded for DNDi-OXA-02-HAT clinical trial; No informed consent for participation in the DiTECT-HAT-WP4 study
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
88 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Human african trypanosomiasis patient

    RNA, neopterin and 5-hydroxytryptophan detection

    Diagnostic Test: RNA and neopterin detection

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testRNA and neopterin detection

    Detection of spliced leader RNA will be performed on blood and cerebrospinal fluid taken before treatment, 11 days after treatment, 6, 12 and 18 months after treatment. Neopterin and 5-hydroxytryptophan will be quantified in cerebrospinal fluid taken at the same time points.

    Also known as: Reverse transcriptase real-time PCR Trypanozoon SL-RNA, Neopterin & 5-hydroxytryptophan EIA, Mybiosource

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Sensitivity of SL-RNA detection in blood, SL-RNA detection in cerebrospinal fluid and of neopterin & 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification in cerebrospinal fluid for relapse after human African trypanosomiasis treatment

    Index tests: qualitative detection of SL-RNA in blood, qualitative detection of SL-RNA in cerebrospinal fluid, neopterin \& 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification in cerebrospinal fluid. Reference standard: classification according to the WHO 2015 criteria as relapse or probable relapse within 18 months after treatment for human African trypanosomiasis

    Time frame: 18 months

  2. Specificity of SL-RNA detection in blood, SL-RNA detection in cerebrospinal fluid and of neopterin & 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification in cerebrospinal fluid for cure after human African trypanosomiasis treatment

    Index tests: qualitative detection of SL-RNA in blood, qualitative detection of SL-RNA in cerebrospinal fluid, neopterin \& 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification in cerebrospinal fluid. Reference standard: classification according to the WHO 2015 criteria as cure or probable cure 18 months after treatment

    Time frame: 18 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Sensitivity and specificity SL-RNA detection in blood for outcome assesment after treatment for human African trypanosomiasis

    Index tests: qualitative detection of SL-RNA in blood post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18. Reference standard: Human African trypanosomiasis treatment outcome classification according to the WHO 2015 criteria

    Time frame: post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18

  2. Sensitivity and specificity SL-RNA detection in cerebrospinal fluid for outcome assesment after treatment for human African trypanosomiasis

    Index tests: qualitative detection of SL-RNA in cerebrospinal fluid at post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18. Reference standard: Human African trypanosomiasis treatment outcome classification according to the WHO 2015 criteria

    Time frame: post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18

  3. Sensitivity and specificity by ROC analysis of neopterin & 5-hydroxytryptophan quantification in cerebrospinal fluid for outcome assesment after treatment for human African trypanosomiasis

    Index tests: quantitative detection of neopterin \& 5-hydroxytryptophan in cerebrospinal fluid at post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18. Reference standard: Human African trypanosomiasis treatment outcome classification according to the WHO 2015 criteria

    Time frame: post treatment day 11, month 6, month 12 and month 18

06

Study locations

1 site
  • Programme Nationale de Lutte contre la trypanosomiase humaine Africaine
    Kinshasa, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Gonzalez-Andrade P, Camara M, Ilboudo H, Bucheton B, Jamonneau V, Deborggraeve S. Diagnosis of trypanosomatid infections: targeting the spliced leader RNA. J Mol Diagn. 2014 Jul;16(4):400-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2014.02.006. Epub 2014 May 9. PubMed 24814957 ↗
  • Ilboudo H, Camara O, Ravel S, Bucheton B, Lejon V, Camara M, Kabore J, Jamonneau V, Deborggraeve S. Trypanosoma brucei gambiense Spliced Leader RNA Is a More Specific Marker for Cure of Human African Trypanosomiasis Than T. b. gambiense DNA. J Infect Dis. 2015 Dec 15;212(12):1996-8. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiv337. Epub 2015 Jun 16. PubMed 26080371 ↗
  • Tiberti N, Lejon V, Hainard A, Courtioux B, Robin X, Turck N, Kristensson K, Matovu E, Enyaru JC, Mumba Ngoyi D, Krishna S, Bisser S, Ndung'u JM, Buscher P, Sanchez JC. Neopterin is a cerebrospinal fluid marker for treatment outcome evaluation in patients affected by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense sleeping sickness. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013;7(2):e2088. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002088. Epub 2013 Feb 28. PubMed 23469311 ↗
  • Vincent IM, Daly R, Courtioux B, Cattanach AM, Bieler S, Ndung'u JM, Bisser S, Barrett MP. Metabolomics Identifies Multiple Candidate Biomarkers to Diagnose and Stage Human African Trypanosomiasis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016 Dec 12;10(12):e0005140. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005140. eCollection 2016 Dec. PubMed 27941966 ↗
  • Ngay Lukusa I, Van Reet N, Mumba Ngoyi D, Miaka EM, Masumu J, Patient Pyana P, Mutombo W, Ngolo D, Kobo V, Akwaso F, Ilunga M, Kaninda L, Mutanda S, Muamba DM, Valverde Mordt O, Tarral A, Rembry S, Buscher P, Lejon V. Trypanosome SL-RNA detection in blood and cerebrospinal fluid to demonstrate active gambiense human African trypanosomiasis infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Sep 17;15(9):e0009739. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009739. eCollection 2021 Sep. PubMed 34534223 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03112655
Lead sponsor
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement
Collaborators
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium, Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale. Kinshasa, République Démocratique du Congo, Ministry of Public Health, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 13, 2017
Start date
Feb 24, 2017
Primary completion
Jan 31, 2021
Completion
Jan 31, 2021
Last update
Feb 21, 2021

Study contacts

Veerle Lejon, PhD
principal investigator · Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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