Clinical Study of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Spinal Muscular Atrophy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Clinical Study of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00443066
• Other study ID #: AAAB1635
• Secondary ID: CU52029001
• Status: Completed
• Start date: May 2005
• Est. completion date: August 17, 2011

Study information

• Verified date: March 2023
• Source: Columbia University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators propose to prepare for clinical trials where SMA patients are asked to join the research effort. The visits will include questions, physical exam, blood drawing, and sometimes X-rays and a skin biopsy. The investigators will use modern computer methods to process the information during which the investigators will plan a clinical trial. Once the clinical trial begins, the investigators will offer SMA patients participation if they meet the criteria for that trial.

Identifying an effective SMA treatment is very important because there is currently none. Clinical trials are the only way to decide whether a new treatment works in SMA patients or not.

Description:

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is one of the most devastating neurological diseases of childhood. Affected infants and children suffer from progressive muscle weakness caused by degeneration of lower motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem. Clinically, four phenotypes are distinguished within the continuous spectrum of disease severity based on the age of onset and the highest motor milestone ever achieved. SMA is caused by homozygous deletion of the survival motor neuron-1 (SMN1) gene. A related gene, SMN2, produces low levels of full-length SMN protein due to inefficient splicing. There is an inverse correlation between SMN copy number and disease severity, presumably mediated by levels of full length SMN protein. Therefore, increasing the amount of full-length SMN protein is a promising treatment strategy. Several drugs targeting splicing efficiency have resulted in increased SMN protein in preclinical assays and are now awaiting clinical testing.

With the future objective to conduct clinical trials in SMA, the proposed project has 3 specific aims: 1) To establish a web-based database that will serve to enroll the patient population and that will facilitate timely recruitment for future clinical trials; (2) to plan for clinical trials by a) developing reliable outcome measures, and (b) establishing the infrastructure needed to carry out efficient clinical trials, (c) convening meetings of preclinical and clinical researchers involved in SMA drug development to select candidate drugs, and (3) to characterize the patient population from a clinical and molecular point of view.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: August 17, 2011
• Est. primary completion date: August 17, 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

• Genetic diagnosis of SMN gene deletion

• Parents or if applicable subjects must give informed consent

• must be capable of complying with the study procedures

• Female subjects of child-bearing potential must agree to undergo pregnancy test prior to radiological studies

• Diagnosis of SMA before age 19 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unstable medical condition precluding participation

• Significant respiratory compromise that would interfere with safe travel to site of evaluation. (The clinical site PI decides when air travel is not recommended and when the patient's location is not within a reasonably safe driving distance (upper limit 150-250 miles)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Atrophy
• Muscular Atrophy
• Muscular Atrophy, Spinal
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Columbia University SMA Clinical Research Center	New York	New York

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Columbia University	The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale Expanded (HFMSE)	For SMAII/III patients over 2 years of age, we will additionally administer the Hammersmith SMA functional motor scale (H-SMA-FMS), a disease-specific instrument.	Up to 36 months
Primary	Gross Motor Function Scale (GMFM)	The GMFM contains 88 items in 5 dimensions: (A) lying and rolling, (B) sitting, (C) crawling, (D) standing, and (E) walking.	Up to 36 months