An Open-Label Single-Arm Clinical Trial to Evaluate The Efficacy of Abatacept in Moderate to Severe Patch Type Alopecia Areata

Alopecia Areata Clinical Trial

Official title: An Open-Label Single-Arm Clinical Trial to Evaluate The Efficacy of Abatacept in Moderate to Severe Patch Type Alopecia Areata

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common disease of the immune system, known as an "autoimmune" disease. In this disease, the immune system mistakenly destroys the hair follicle, causing hair to fall out. Despite many people having this disease, research into its cause and into new, better ways to treat Alopecia Areata has lagged far behind other similar diseases of the immune system. Currently, there are no Federal Drug Administration approved drugs for Alopecia Areata.

Abatacept (made by Bristol-Myers Squibb) is a safe intervention known to effectively treat rheumatoid arthritis, another "autoimmune" disease, by fighting inflammation. There are some genetic and chemical similarities between those with active rheumatoid arthritis and Alopecia Areata, suggesting that treatment with the same drug is likely to be effective. In mice specially designed for testing drugs for the treatment of human alopecia, this medication worked to prevent the disease Alopecia Areata from starting.

To test Abatacept, we are going to treat 15 patients with moderate to severe Alopecia Areata for 6 months. Each person enrolling into this study will receive the active study drug. The effectiveness of the medication will be measured by changes in hair re-growth as determined by physical exam and photography, as well as by patient and physician scoring. Patients will be followed for another 6 months off of the drug to see if the effects of treatment last and if there is delayed response. We have recently changed the study to allow testing of abatacept in a few patients with alopecia totalis and universalis.

Small scalp biopsies and peripheral blood will be taken at the beginning of the study before treatment and then after 4,12 and 24 weeks. The chemical analysis of these skin samples and blood will help us to understand how the disease happens, how the treatment works, and perhaps even guide us to better treatments in the future.

Clinical Trial Description

Among patients with alopecia areata, patients with higher disease burdens are unlikely to have satisfactory outcomes with current therapies. Our hypothesis is that CTLA4-Ig will be effective therapy in moderate-severe alopecia areata by blocking re-activation of CD8+ memory T cells, thereby aborting the cytotoxic T cell inflammatory response underlying alopecia areata.

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common autoimmune disease resulting from immune destruction of the hair follicle and subsequent hair loss. Despite its high prevalence, research into the pathogenesis and the development of innovative therapies in Alopecia Areata has lagged far behind other autoimmune diseases. Currently, there are no FDA approved drugs for Alopecia Areata. Abatacept is a safe intervention known to block costimulation and inflammatory responses in rheumatoid arthritis, which shares several susceptibility genes in common with Alopecia Areata. Both diseases share the involvement of CTLA4, which is the rationale for selecting Abatacept for evaluation in this clinical trial. CTLA4-Ig has been shown to prevent the onset of Alopecia Areata in the C3H-HeJ animal model of Alopecia Areata, demonstrating preclinical proof of concept data in Alopecia Areata.

We will conduct an open label pilot study of 15 patients with moderate to severe Alopecia Areata treated with SC abatacept 125mg once per week for 6 months. A few subjects with alopecia totalis or universalis will also be included. Subjects will be followed for another 6 months to evaluate durability of response following the treatment phase. The primary efficacy outcome will be the proportion of responders after 6 months of treatment compared to the historically known rate of response in untreated/placebo-treated subjects of 8 to 10%. Punch biopsies and peripheral blood will be obtained at baseline prior to treatment and then after 4, 12 and 24 weeks for immunomonitoring and molecular studies.

The safety of and incidence of adverse events related to abatacept in this population of patients will also be analyzed as a secondary endpoint. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Alopecia
• Alopecia Areata

• NCT number: NCT02018042
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Columbia University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: September 2013
• Completion date: July 31, 2017