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Personalised Pharmacological Approach to the Tapering of Corticosteroid Doses in Systemic Lupus Patients Treated With Prednisone

Personalised Pharmacological Approach to the Tapering of Corticosteroid Doses in Systemic Lupus Patients Treated With Prednisone

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03187743
Acronym
DECOR
Enrollment
72
Registered
2017-06-15
Start date
2018-04-17
Completion date
2022-04-20
Last updated
2026-03-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic

Keywords

Lupus erythematosus, Systemic, Corticosteroid, Prednisone, Pharmacokinetics

Brief summary

This research study is a multicentre prospective pharmacokinetic study. The clinical and biological data will be collected in the framework of a prospective study. The drug to be evaluated is a glucocorticoid routinely used to treat Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patient. Initial dose of prednisone must be oral and at least 0.5mg/Kg/day, but the precise dosage and the tapering regimen will be determined according to the clinical judgment of the investigator. The duration of the research period for each patient will be 3 months. Three visits (which are all usual care visits) will be needed within the 3 months of the study for collecting data and/or blood sampling

Detailed description

Until now, glucocorticoids always play a leading role in the lupus treatment, and the lupus's prognosis has been greatly improved by the treatment of serious flare-ups with a combination of high-dose corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, notably mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) together with hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), survival at 10 years being 70 to 90%. However, corticosteroid treatment is also a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and with 60 years of experience, consensus about "appropriate" dosages, route of administration and tapering regimes has not been reached. In addition, there is a large variability in clinical response to corticosteroid therapy which may be attributed to heterogeneity of SLE, drugs interaction or to environmental and genetic factors, especially to polymorphism of the MDR (multi-drug resistance) -1 and NR3C1 (glucocorticoid nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 1). There are no previous studies investigating the role of MDR-1 and NR3C1 genes polymorphisms in the response to corticosteroids in lupus patients Drug monitoring of immunosuppressive drugs has been largely explored in renal transplantation and in a lesser extend in SLE (especially for mycophenolic acid). Relationship between prednisolone PK and clinical efficacy/toxicity have been also shown previously especially in renal transplant population. In patients with SLE, only two small series (8 children, 25 adults) have explored this relationship, and suggested that SLE activity and corticosteroid toxicity might be related to prednisolone AUC. Thus, limited data suggest that prednisone monitoring may optimize treatment efficacy and minimize adverse events. The DECOR study will aim : 1. to search for relationship between prednisolone PK and SLE disease activity in a large series of patients in order to improve the rational of prednisone doses in lupus patients 2. to identify pharmacogenetic factors influencing the response to steroid in order to identify patients sharing a high probability of being responders or resistant to corticosteroids. This approach could be applied to all inflammatory diseases requiring prolonged corticosteroid treatment, and thus, be a major progress in the use of this old treatment.

Interventions

OTHERBlood samples

Blood samples at 3 visits : V0 : - 5 mL in heparin tube / Pharmacokinetics + Gene Expression Analysis V1 : - 5 mL in heparin tube / sample (2 to 5 samples) Pharmacokinetics + Pharmacogenetics + Gene Expression Analysis V2 : - 5 mL in heparin tube / Pharmacokinetics + Gene Expression Analysis and - 5 mL in EDTA tube / DNA bank

Sponsors

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Lead SponsorOTHER
URC-CIC Paris Descartes Necker Cochin
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
6 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patient aged ≥ 6 years * Patient who met the American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR) or the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Classification (SLICC) for systemic lupus erythematosus. * Patients needs (re)initiation of oral prednisone regimen at least at 0.5 mg/Kg/d(or \>30mg/d for patients \>60 kg) in combination with mycophenolate mofetyl or mycofenolic acid or cyclophosphamide at usual dose including : i) patient who receives bolus of methylprednisolone the week before and/or the week after inclusion for treating the lupus flare ii) patient who was previously treated by a low-prednisone dose (≤ 7.5 mg/d in patients ≥ 60 kg and ≤ 0.1 mg/kd/d in patient \< 60 kg). iii) patient who was previously treated by prednisone ≥ 0,5 mg/kg/d (or \>30mg/d for patients \>60 kg) but stopped since at least one month before inclusion * Patient with stable doses of other immunosuppressive or biological drugs before inclusion (at least 15 days for Imurel, Methotrexate, Tacrolimus ; at least 6 months for Rituximab, Belimumab) and during the 3 months of patient participation in the study. * Signed informed consent form by the patient (if aged ≥ 18 years), or by the parents / legal guardian and patient's agreement (if aged \< 18 years) * Patient affiliated to the health insurance system

Exclusion criteria

* Patient presents contraindications to corticosteroids * Patient presents contraindications to MMF, mycofenolic acid or cyclophosphamide for patient receiving immunosupressor * Patient cannot be treated by oral way * Patient whose physician has planned to stop prednisone in less than 3 months * Patient (or parents for minor) are unable to give a written informed consent for physical or psychical reasons * Patient disagrees with the study

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
SELENA-SLEDAI score3 months

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Primary parameters : volume of distributionDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Primary parameters : elimination clearanceDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Primary parameters : absorption constantDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Secondary parameters : trough concentrationDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Secondary parameters : maximum concentrationDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Secondary parameters : Area Under Curve (AUC)Day 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Secondary parameters : elimination half-lifeDay 0, 1 month, 3 monthsTo study the pharmacokinetics of prednisolone in a population of patients with SLE
Occurrence of adverse events3 months

Countries

France

Contacts

STUDY_DIRECTORMichaela SEMERARO

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 6, 2026