Effect of Levosulpiride on Retinal Alterations in Patients With Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Levosulpiride to Improve Retinal Alterations in Patients With Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03161652
• Other study ID #: LDRDME_247164
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: May 24, 2017
• Est. completion date: June 2025

Study information

• Verified date: August 2023
• Source: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
• Contact: Carmen Clapp, Ph.D.
• Phone: 52442 2381028
• Email: clapp[@]unam.mx
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of levosulpiride to improve retinal alterations due to diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy

Description:

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) are the primary cause of irreversible blindness and visual impairment in working-age adults. Nearly 80% of patients with diabetes will experience some degree of DR and DME 15-20 years after diagnosis. Altered blood parameters (glucose, lipids, and pressure) influence disease development and progression; however, the combined values of these parameters account for only 10% of the risk of DR. Laser therapy is effective for preserving sight but is poor for reversing visual loss. Anti-angiogenic therapies are effective and less destructive but require frequent intravitreal delivery, which raises the risk of infection and ocular complications. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of DR and DME should include other modifiable factors. Data from preclinical studies support a protective role for the serum levels of the hormone prolactin. The trial investigates a new specific therapy for DR and DME based on elevating the circulating levels of prolactin with the prokynetic, dopamine D2 receptor blocker, levosulpiride. It is a prospective, randomized clinical study in patients with DR and DME in which ophthalmologic and health parameters evaluated before and after starting the study medication will determine the efficacy and safety of treatment.

Patient registries: Patients are enrolled at the time of a routine health care service. The caregiver and patient together, in a standardized uniform manner for every patient, will collect the data. Data collection procedures are clearly described and include protocols, policies, and the formatted listing of all the data elements, their full definitions and validation rules. All personnel involved in data collection are qualified registry trained. The same physicians, laboratory technicians, and graduate students will evaluate and collect the data from all patients. An individual fully knowledgeable of all protocols, policies, procedures, and definitions in the registry will be designated as Accountable for Data Quality. This individual (coordinator) should ensure that all collected data are complete, accurate, and valid. Data logically inconsistent will be confronted to information in external database. Data collected on formatted paper forms are entered into a computer and electronic registries carefully reviewed by a third party to identify missing data, invalid or erroneous entries, and inconsistent data. Any data review activity and remediation efforts will be documented. Amelioration of data problems may include querying the personnel uploading the data, the coordinator, the interviewer, or the patient. The proposed sample size and study duration are the minimum required and are based on biological models of DR and on clinical experience evaluating primary data associated with the study. These parameters may have to be modified to accommodate the sample size required to obtain clinically important differences and their statistical evaluation, access to eligible patients, lack of adherence to therapy at specific calendar dates (holidays), etc. Statistical methods include those evaluating continuous and categorical variables, incidence and prevalence, the association between a risk factor and outcome, and the relative contribution of confounding factors.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: June 2025
• Est. primary completion date: June 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 40 Years to 69 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age equal or greater than 40 years but no older than 69 years

• Male and female subjects with mild and moderate diabetic macular edema (DME), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (DR), and with proliferative DR undergoing medically prescribed vitrectomy.

• Signing informed consent

• Without ocular complications: severe myopia (> 6 diopters), ocular media opacity, retinal detachment, etc.

• Without previous ocular treatments: ocular surgeries, retinal laser photocoagulation, intravitreal administration of antiangiogenic agents (delivered < 6 months before enrollment).

• Prolactin serum levels = 20 ng/ml

• With normal or mild loss of kidney function (glomerular filtration rate >60 ml/min) for groups with DME and DR without vitrectomy.

• With mild to severe loss of kidney function (glomerular filtration rate >30 ml/min) for groups with DR undergoing vitrectomy.

• Without contraindications for the use of levosulpiride (Parkinson disease, epilepsy, breast cancer, alcoholism, hypokalemia).

• Without hyperprolactinemia inducing conditions: Pathologies (hypothyrodism, hepatic dysfunction, prolactinomas); Medication (antipsychotics, antidepressants, prokinetics, other)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not meeting inclusion criteria.

• Adverse and intolerable drug effects.

• Not complying with study medication

• Inability to continue in-hospital appointments.

• Missing outcome data

• Hesitation to continue with study medication

• Relocation to another state or country

• Voluntary withdrawal of consent

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Diabetic Macular Edema
• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Edema
• Macular Edema
• Retinal Diseases

Intervention

Drug:
• DME lactose pill
Patients with DME will take placebo orally 3 times a day (TID) for 8 weeks.The placebo is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DME levosulpiride
Patients with DME will take levosulpiride (75 mg/day) orally TID for 8 weeks. Levosulpiride is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DR lactose pill
Patients with non-proliferative DR will take a lactose pill (placebo) orally TID for 8 weeks. The placebo is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DR levosulpiride
Patients with non-proliferative DR will take levosulpiride (75 mg/day) orally TIDfor 8 weeks. Levosulpiride is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DR vitrectomy lactose pill
Patients with proliferative DR (undergoing medically prescribed vitrectomy 7 days after starting the study medication) will have to take a lactose pill (placebo) orally TID for one week. The last placebo pill will be taken on the morning of the day vitrectomy is performed. The placebo is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DR vitrectomy levosulpiride
Patients with proliferative DR (undergoing medically prescribed vitrectomy 7 days after starting the study medication) will take levosulpiride (75 mg/day) orally TID for one week. The last pill will be taken on the morning of the day vitrectomy is performed. Levosulpiride is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DME plus ranibizumab lactose pill
Patients with DME with conventional intravitreal antiangiogenic therapy with ranibizumab (0.5 mg every 4 weeks for 12 weeks) will take a lactose pill (placebo) orally TID for 24 weeks. The placebo is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.
• DME plus ranibizumab levosulpiride
Patients with DME with receive intravitreal antiangiogenic therapy with ranibizumab (0.5 mg every 4 weeks for 12 weeks) will take a levosulpiride (75 mg/day) orally TID for 24 weeks. The study medication is taken on top of standard therapy for diabetes and blood pressure control.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Mexico	Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmologia (IMO)	Queretaro
Mexico	Instituto de la Retina del Bajio SC (INDEREB)	Querétaro City	Queretaro

Sponsors (6)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Carmen Clapp	General Hospital Nuremberg & Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg, Instituto de la Retina del Bajio SC (INDEREB), Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmologia (IMO), Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Mexico, 

References & Publications (11)

Aranda J, Rivera JC, Jeziorski MC, Riesgo-Escovar J, Nava G, Lopez-Barrera F, Quiroz-Mercado H, Berger P, Martinez de la Escalera G, Clapp C. Prolactins are natural inhibitors of angiogenesis in the retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005 Aug;46(8):2947-53. doi: 10.1167/iovs.05-0173. — View Citation

Arnold E, Rivera JC, Thebault S, Moreno-Paramo D, Quiroz-Mercado H, Quintanar-Stephano A, Binart N, Martinez de la Escalera G, Clapp C. High levels of serum prolactin protect against diabetic retinopathy by increasing ocular vasoinhibins. Diabetes. 2010 Dec;59(12):3192-7. doi: 10.2337/db10-0873. Epub 2010 Sep 7. — View Citation

Arnold E, Thebault S, Baeza-Cruz G, Arredondo Zamarripa D, Adan N, Quintanar-Stephano A, Condes-Lara M, Rojas-Piloni G, Binart N, Martinez de la Escalera G, Clapp C. The hormone prolactin is a novel, endogenous trophic factor able to regulate reactive glia and to limit retinal degeneration. J Neurosci. 2014 Jan 29;34(5):1868-78. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2452-13.2014. — View Citation

Arredondo Zamarripa D, Diaz-Lezama N, Melendez Garcia R, Chavez Balderas J, Adan N, Ledesma-Colunga MG, Arnold E, Clapp C, Thebault S. Vasoinhibins regulate the inner and outer blood-retinal barrier and limit retinal oxidative stress. Front Cell Neurosci. 2014 Oct 20;8:333. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2014.00333. eCollection 2014. — View Citation

Clapp C, Thebault S, Arnold E, Garcia C, Rivera JC, de la Escalera GM. Vasoinhibins: novel inhibitors of ocular angiogenesis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Oct;295(4):E772-8. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.90358.2008. Epub 2008 Jun 10. — View Citation

Diaz-Lezama N, Wu Z, Adan-Castro E, Arnold E, Vazquez-Membrillo M, Arredondo-Zamarripa D, Ledesma-Colunga MG, Moreno-Carranza B, Martinez de la Escalera G, Colosi P, Clapp C. Diabetes enhances the efficacy of AAV2 vectors in the retina: therapeutic effect of AAV2 encoding vasoinhibin and soluble VEGF receptor 1. Lab Invest. 2016 Mar;96(3):283-95. doi: 10.1038/labinvest.2015.135. Epub 2015 Nov 16. — View Citation

Garcia C, Aranda J, Arnold E, Thebault S, Macotela Y, Lopez-Casillas F, Mendoza V, Quiroz-Mercado H, Hernandez-Montiel HL, Lin SH, de la Escalera GM, Clapp C. Vasoinhibins prevent retinal vasopermeability associated with diabetic retinopathy in rats via protein phosphatase 2A-dependent eNOS inactivation. J Clin Invest. 2008 Jun;118(6):2291-300. doi: 10.1172/JCI34508. — View Citation

Melendez Garcia R, Arredondo Zamarripa D, Arnold E, Ruiz-Herrera X, Noguez Imm R, Baeza Cruz G, Adan N, Binart N, Riesgo-Escovar J, Goffin V, Ordaz B, Pena-Ortega F, Martinez-Torres A, Clapp C, Thebault S. Prolactin protects retinal pigment epithelium by inhibiting sirtuin 2-dependent cell death. EBioMedicine. 2016 May;7:35-49. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.03.048. Epub 2016 Apr 20. — View Citation

Ramirez M, Wu Z, Moreno-Carranza B, Jeziorski MC, Arnold E, Diaz-Lezama N, Martinez de la Escalera G, Colosi P, Clapp C. Vasoinhibin gene transfer by adenoassociated virus type 2 protects against VEGF- and diabetes-induced retinal vasopermeability. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011 Nov 21;52(12):8944-50. doi: 10.1167/iovs.11-8190. — View Citation

Robles-Osorio ML, Garcia-Franco R, Nunez-Amaro CD, Mira-Lorenzo X, Ramirez-Neria P, Hernandez W, Lopez-Star E, Bertsch T, Martinez de la Escalera G, Triebel J, Clapp C. Basis and Design of a Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Effect of Levosulpiride on Retinal Alterations in Patients With Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2018 May 29;9:242. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00242. eCollection 2018. — View Citation

Triebel J, Macotela Y, de la Escalera GM, Clapp C. Prolactin and vasoinhibins: Endogenous players in diabetic retinopathy. IUBMB Life. 2011 Oct;63(10):806-10. doi: 10.1002/iub.518. Epub 2011 Sep 13. — View Citation

* Note: There are 11 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Visual acuity	Number of letters recognized in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart test after correcting for any refractive error (myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism)	5 minutes
Primary	Retinal thickness	Retinal thickness is evaluated by non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging via qualitative and quantitative analyses. For qualitative analyses, OCT images approaching the histological level of retinal morphology are interpreted based on normal and diseased features (hyper-reflective or hypo-reflective lesions, shadowing, and anatomical changes). Quantitative analysis evaluates retinal reflective signals and their correlation with retinal morphology by computer image-processing algorithms (retinal thickness map, volume, area, 1, 3, and 6 mm ETDRS circle diameters).	Pupils are dilated (eye drops) for 10 to 15 minutes and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images recorded during 5 minutes.
Primary	Retinal hard exudates and hemorrhages	Number, size, and location of retinal hard exudates and hemorrhages evaluated by indirect ophthalmoscopy	Pupils are dilated (eye drops) for 10 to 15 minutes and fundus images recorded during 5 minutes
Primary	Retinal microaneurisms, leakage area, cotton-wool spots, venous beading, microvascular and vascular abnormalities	Location, intensity, and source of above alterations evaluated by fundus fluorescein angiography imaging qualitative and quantitative analysis of hyper-fluorescent or hypo-fluorescent regions.	Pupils are dilated (eye drops) for 10 to 15 minutes and fundus images recorded before and at different times (0.5 to 5 minutes) after fluorescein injection.
Primary	Prolactin serum levels	ng/ml levels of prolactin quantified in serum samples using the IMMULITE 2000 XPi immunoassay system	1-2 minutes (duration of blood withdrawal)
Primary	Prolactin vitreous levels	ng/ml levels of prolactin quantified in vitreous samples using the IMMULITE 2000 XPi immunoassay system	2 minutes (duration of vitreous withdrawal during medically prescribed vitrectomy)
Primary	Vasoinhibin vitreous levels	Optical density values of vasoinhibins obtained by the immunoprecipitation-Western blot analysis of vitreous samples	2 minutes (duration of vitreous withdrawal during medically prescribed vitrectomy)
Secondary	Pyruvic glutamic transaminase (TGP) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) serum levels	U/L (TGP) and uU/mL (TSH) quantified in serum samples by the Bioclin Kinetic Transaminase ALT (TGP) Kit and the automatic quimioluminescent evaluator (TSH)	1-2 minutes (duration of blood withdrawal)
Secondary	Blood glycated hemoglobin and creatinine serum levels	Glycated hemoglobin (evaluated by boronate affinity chromatography) and creatinine (evaluated by the Jaffe reaction) levels are expressed as % and mg/dL, respectively.	1-2 minutes (duration of blood withdrawal)
Secondary	Blood pressure	Systolic and diastolic values in mmHg	5 minutes

External Links

•   Carmen Clapp's research web page
•   Instituto de Neurobiologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico web page
•   Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmologia web page