Evaluating the Asthmatic Response to an Experimental Infection With Rhinovirus in the Atopic

Asthma Clinical Trial

Official title: Evaluating the Asthmatic Response to an Experimental Infection With Rhinovirus in the Atopic Host

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

In patients with asthma, reactions to allergens in the environment (such as mold, pollen, weed, domestic pets, and dust allergens) play an important role in causing asthma symptoms. However, upper respiratory tract infections, typically those caused by the common cold virus, rhinovirus, can also cause asthma to get worse. In previous studies at the University of Virginia, it was found that mild asthmatics, who had high levels of the allergy antibody (called IgE) in their blood, developed more persistent cold and chest symptoms when they were given an infection with rhinovirus (the most frequent cause of the common cold). The cold symptoms produced by rhinovirus tend to peak during the first 4 -7 days of the cold. These symptoms, including nasal congestion, are similar to what you have experienced with previous colds.

This study is being done to learn how a common cold caused by a viral infection affects people with asthma. The goal is to learn how to improve the care of asthma symptoms caused by the common cold virus (called rhinovirus). Most adults experience one or two colds caused by rhinovirus every year. In addition, 75-80% of asthma exacerbations caused by viral infections are caused by this virus, primarily in children. Adults are less likely to experience significant changes in their asthma symptoms when they get colds, because they have developed protective immune responses from previous colds which help diminish symptoms.

Clinical Trial Description

Using rhinovirus strain 16 (RV-16) for inoculation, this study is designed to examine mechanisms of the asthmatic response to RV in the atopic host. In keeping with this, the primary objective of this investigation will be to test the hypothesis that mild asthmatics enrolled in this study will experience significantly increased lower respiratory tract symptoms over the first 4 days after experimental inoculation with RV-16 than non-allergic, non-asthmatic controls (as shown in our previous studies). It is anticipated that the results will serve to guide the development of new treatments to prevent asthma attacks provoked by RV. This will be a 5 week longitudinal study of 18 young allergic adults with mild asthma and 18 non-asthmatic controls who will be evaluated for 1 week to establish baseline symptoms and lung function, followed by an inoculation with rhinovirus (strain-16) and subsequent clinical and laboratory (mechanistic) monitoring for an additional 4 weeks. To participate in this study, subjects must live within 90 minutes by car from the University of Virginia.

Note: This study has been reviewed and is being monitored for safety by the NIH/NIAID Safety Monitoring Committee and by teh University of Virginia IRB (#12673). The virus pool used for inoculation has been produced under GMP conditions and is approved for this research by the FDA. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Asthma

• NCT number: NCT02111772
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Virginia
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 1, 2013
• Completion date: April 27, 2017