CClinicalTrials.gg
TerminatedNCT03278977iALTEUpdated Jul 10, 2026

Apparent Life Threatening Events, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Muscarinic Receptors

An interventional study of Blood sample for specific analyzes in Apparent Life-Threatening Event in Infants Under One Year of Age, sponsored by University Hospital, Strasbourg, France. Terminated at 4 sites in France. Open to participants aged 28 Days to 12 Months. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-10.

Sponsored by University Hospital, Strasbourg, France · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

Why this study was terminated
recruitment difficulties
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
12
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
28 Days to 12 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Apparent Life-Threatening Events (ALTE) in infants often lead to severe neurological complications or to sudden death. In such situations, cardio-pediatricians and intensive care physicians have no specific diagnosis or treatment. In a recent translational research (INSERM-DHOS), our team has reported a myocardiac abnormality in a rabbit model of vagal hyperreactivity which is also present in the human hearts of infants deceased from sudden death, i.e. increased M2 muscarinic receptors (M2R) density associated with compensative increased enzymatic activity and overexpression of acetylcholine esterase (AchE). In a recent PHRC-I study (article in preparation), these abnormalities have also been observed in the blood of patients, infants as well as adults, exhibiting severe vagal syncopes. We observed, even more importantly, similar abnormalities in infants under 1 year of age with very severe idiopathic ALTE (iALTE) compared with normal subjects and with patients who presented ALTE with identified etiologies (JAMA Pediatric, 2016 May). The aim of this present study is to validate the overexpression of M2R as a marker of risk of iALTE in infant under 1 year.

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Conditions studied

  • Apparent Life-Threatening Event in Infants Under One Year of Age

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Keywords

  • Apparent Life-Threatening Event
  • ALTE
  • Sudden Infant Death
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
28 Days to 12 Months
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Infant aged between 28 days and 12 months, presenting severe syncope(s) requiring medical management, hospitalized in a pediatric intensive care unit or pediatric emergencies
  • Consent signed and dated by the legal representatives
  • Patients affiliated to a social security system

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Infant with known cardiovascular, neurologic, infectious, toxic or metabolic pathologies before enrollment (before the syncope)
  • Subject on medication for more than 3 months before enrollment
  • Impossibility to clearly inform the legal representatives (comprehension problems)
  • Subject in exclusion period for clinical trial (previous or current study)
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
12 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Other
    ALTE group

    Infants aged between 28 days and 12 months presenting severe(s) syncope(s) requiring hospitalization, for which a cause was identified during hospitalization.

    Biological: Blood sample for specific analyzes

  • Other
    iALTE group

    Infant aged between 28 days and 12 months presenting a severe syncope(s) requiring hospitalization, for which no etiology was found during hospitalization.

    Biological: Blood sample for specific analyzes

Interventions

  • BiologicalBlood sample for specific analyzes

    Standard management of ALTE * Hospitalization in pediatric intensive care unit or pediatric emergencies * Etiologic research * Blood volume, 2.5mL in PaxGene® tube, for specific analyzes (M2R, AchE)

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Muscarinic M2 receptor mRNA expression in blood

    Blood sample will be collected not later than 24 hours after the inclusion in the study and will be frozen until centralized analysis. A qRT-PCR will be performed for quantification of CHRM2 gene expression in blood (mRNA expression). Interim analysis with the 7-8 first samples per group together. Final analysis with all samples at the study completion.

    Time frame: At the admission in the hospital, within 24 hours after the inclusion in the study

Secondary outcomes

  1. Acetylcholinesterase mRNA expression in blood

    Blood sample will be collected not later than 24 hours after the inclusion in the study and will be frozen until centralized analysis.. A qRT-PCR will be performed for quantification of ACHE gene expression in blood (mRNA expression). Interim analysis with the 7-8 first samples per group together. Final analysis with all samples at the study completion.

    Time frame: At the admission in the hospital, within 24 hours after the inclusion in the study.

06

Study locations

4 sites
  • Pediatric Intensive Care unit/Emergency unit - Besançon University Hospital
    Besançon, 25030, France
  • Pediatric Intensive Care Unit - Brabois Hospital - Nancy University Hospital
    Nancy, 54500, France
  • Pediatric unit - Maison Blanche Hospital - Reims University Hospital
    Reims, 51092, France
  • Pediatric intensive care unit/ Pediatric unit- Strasbourg University Hospital - Hautepierre Hospital
    Strasbourg, 67200, France
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03278977
Lead sponsor
University Hospital, Strasbourg, France
Collaborators
Groupement Interrégional de Recherche Clinique et d'Innovation
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 12, 2017
Start date
Sep 15, 2018
Primary completion
May 11, 2022
Completion
May 11, 2022
Last update
Jul 10, 2026

Study contacts

Charlie DE MELO, MD
principal investigator · Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg

Oversight

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

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