ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT03260166Updated Feb 2, 2021

Nicotinamide Treatment for Lupus-associated Skin Lesions in Lupus Erythematosus

A Phase 2 interventional study of nicotinamide in Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Rash, sponsored by Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. Status unknown at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-02-02.

Sponsored by Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jan 2021), so the status shown — last known as Active, not recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This clinical study will test the efficacy and safety of nicotinamide for lupus-associated skin lesions refractory to the treatment of hydroxychloroquine plus low-dose corticosteroids in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Read the detailed description

Backgrounds: Lupus erythematosus (LE) is an autoimmune disease affecting various organs. Lupus-associated skin lesions are the dominant clinical manifestations of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) and also occur in 70%\~80% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and usually involve the sunlight-exposure sites such as the face, neck and hands, which affects the personal appearance dramatically and causes substantial psychological impact to the patients.

While antimalarials such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have been widely used as a first-line treatment for lupus-associated skin lesions, 30% of patients with lupus do not respond to this medication. Other available therapies such as corticosteroids and thalidomide can also be applied, however, their toxic side effects limit the clinical use. Recent studies by the investigators have shown that nicotinamide, a water-soluble vitamin whose side effects are considered as minimal, can protect MRL/lpr mice (a lupus-like mouse model) from skin lesions and autoantibody production. Thus it is hypothesized that nicotinamide treatment could be a novel therapy for lupus-associated skin lesions in patients with LE.

Design of Study: This is a single center, uncontrolled, open-label study to assess the efficacy and safety of nicotinamide for lupus-associated skin lesions refractory to the treatment of HCQ plus low-dose corticosteroids in patients with CLE or SLE.

Methods: For CLE or SLE patients with lupus-associated skin lesions scoring >=4 on the Revised Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index (RCLASI) that have been refractory to the treatment of HCQ plus low-dose corticosteroids (\<=0.5 mg/kg/d) during the past two months, oral nicotinamide (500 mg twice daily) will be given consecutively for 3 months while the current regimen including HCQ and corticosteroids be maintained without change. The end points include clinical response and immunological changes, as well as safety.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus
  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Rash

Keywords

  • nicotinamide
  • lupus-associated skin lesion
  • lupus erythematosus
03

In context

Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous

67 studies on the registry are indexed under Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous; 18 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 40 is above the median of 32 across 57 interventional studies indexed under Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous.

Browse Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous studies →

Lead sponsor

Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University is the lead sponsor of 87 studies on the registry; 50 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 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

  1. Age: between 18 years and 65 years.
  2. Patients clinically and histopathologically diagnosed as cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) that have not respond to treatment with hydroxychloroquine (200-400 mg/day) plus at a dosage less than the equivalent of 0.5mg/kg/day of prednisone for the preceding two months or a longer period.
  3. Patients diagnosed as SLE (meeting the 1997 American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE) that present with lupus-associated skin lesions that have not respond to treatment with hydroxychloroquine (200-400 mg/day) plus corticosteroids at a dosage less than the equivalent of 0.5mg/kg/day of prednisone for the preceding two months or a longer period.
  4. Revised Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index (RCLASI) ≥4; for patients with SLE, Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment version of the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SELENA-SLEDAI) is within the range between 0 and 9.
  5. Written form.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Severe comorbidities including heart failure (≥grade III ), respiratory failure, renal insufficiency ( ≤30 ml/min), hepatic insuf¬ficiency ( or aspartate aminotransferase ≥2 times of the ), or active severe neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE.
  2. Acute severe infection such as sepsis and cellulitis, or a history of infection of or C virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or (HIV).
  3. A history of treatment with nicotinamide, niacin, or multi-vitamins in the recent month.
  4. A history of treatment with rituximab or other biologics; or a history of treatment with high-dose (≥1.5 mg/kg/d), , tripterygium glycosides, or intravenous immunoglobin G (IVIG) in the preceding three months.
  5. Patients not suitable for using nicotinamide due to comorbidities including pruritic skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis and urticaria, vertigo, dizziness, headache, hyperglycemia, and hyperuricemia; patients not suitable for using hydroxychloroquine due to conditions including retinopathy or to hydroxychloroquine.
  6. Patients with drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or mental disorders that are unable to cooperate or adhere to treatment.
  7. Pregnancy or lac¬tation in females.
  8. Participants in other clinical trials.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(10)

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.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

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.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

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.

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.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
40 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    nicotinamide

    Patients will receive 10 nicotinamide tablets orally twice daily (nicotinamide 500 mg, p.o., Bid) for a period of 3 months. Each tablet contains 50 mg of nicotinamide.

    Drug: nicotinamide

Interventions

  • Drug: nicotinamide; Pharmaceutical form: tablet; Route of administration: oral

    Also known as: Niacinamide

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. A change in Revised Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index (RCLASI) activity score

    The higher the RCLASI score, the worse of the lupus-associated skin lesion is.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 3 months treatment (at visit 3)

Secondary outcomes

  1. A change in RCLASI activity score

    The higher the RCLASI score, the worse of the lupus-associated skin lesion is.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1, 2, 4, and 6 months treatment (at visit 1, 2, 4, and 5), respectively

  2. Response Rate and Remarkable Response Rate at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 months, respectively

    Response is defined as a ≥ 4-point reduction or a ≥20% reduction in RCALSI activity score. Remarkable Response is defined as a ≥50% reduction in RCALSI activity score.

    Time frame: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months

  3. Number of Relapses

    Relapse means that if the patient's RCLASI activity score has a ≥ 4-point reduction or a ≥20% reduction than at baseline during the 3-month treatment, and then the RCLASI activity score increase to be no lower than at baseline after stopping using nicotinamide in the following 3 months.

    Time frame: 4 months, 6 months

  4. A change in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) score

    DLQI reflect the quality of life related to skin manifestations.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  5. A change in Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) score

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  6. A change in the percentage of different T helper cell (Th) subsets among CD4+ T lymphocytes

    At each time point, the percentage of Th1, Th2, Th17, regulatory T cell (Treg), and follicular helper T cell (Tfh) subsets among CD4+ T lymphocytes in peripheral venous blood of the patient will be measured by flow cytometry. 5 ml of peripheral venous blood will be collected from the patient at each time point, of which 4.5 ml will be used in this flow cytometry assay.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  7. A change in the serum level of cytokines interferon (IFN)γ, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-17A, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, IL-10, IL-21, and IL-6

    At each time point, the serum level of cytokines IFNγ, IL-4, IL-17A, TGF-β, IL-10, IL-21, and IL-6 in the patient's venous blood will be measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or Bio-Plex methods. 5 ml of peripheral venous blood will be collected from the patient at each time point, of which 0.5 ml will be used in this ELISA or Bio-Plex assay.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  8. A change in serum levels of complement 3 (C3), C4, and C1q

    This is for evaluation of the potential effects of nicotinamide on serum levels of complements that are associated with lupus activity

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  9. A change in the results of urine sediment test

    This is for evaluation of the potential effects of nicotinamide on renal damage.

    Time frame: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months

  10. Dose reduction of concomitant corticosteroids

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  11. A change in SELENA-SLEDAI (Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment version of the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index)

    This outcome is only evaluated for patients with SLE.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  12. A change in British Isles Lupus Assessment Group 2004 Index (BILAG-2004)

    This outcome is only evaluated for patients with SLE.

    Time frame: from baseline (at visit 0) to 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 6 months (at visit 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), respectively

  13. Incidence of side effects

    Possible side effects of nicotinamide include flushing and itching of the skin, cardiac arrhythmia, dizziness, nausea, epigastric discomfort, loss of appetite, elevated blood glucose, and elevated blood uric acid. The major side effects of HCQ that need to be monitored include retina toxicity.

    Time frame: 3 months

  14. Incidence of side effects

    Possible side effects of nicotinamide include flushing and itching of the skin, cardiac arrhythmia, dizziness, nausea, epigastric discomfort, loss of appetite, elevated blood glucose, and elevated blood uric acid. The major side effects of HCQ that need to be monitored include retina toxicity.

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University
    Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Aug 2017 to primary completion in Jan 2020, 28 months.

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

Registered
Aug 10, 2017
First posted
Aug 24, 2017
StartActual
Aug 31, 2017
Primary completionActual
Jan 1, 2020
CompletionEst.
Jul 1, 2021
Last update
Feb 2, 2021
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 Feb 2, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03260166
Lead sponsor
Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University
Collaborators
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Clinical Specialty Construction Project of China
Responsible party
Qianjin Lu, MD, PhD (Professor and Director, Dept. of Dermatology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Central South University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 24, 2017
Start date
Aug 31, 2017
Primary completion
Jan 1, 2020
Completion
Jul 1, 2021 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 2, 2021

Study contacts

Qianjin Lu, MD, PhD
principal investigator · Central South University

Oversight

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

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Studies of the drug tested here: Niacinamide

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