Although individuals with severe persistent asthma constitute the minority of patients with asthma in terms of prevalence, they represent the group with the highest morbidity both individually and for society in general. Indeed, they have the greatest impairment in terms of quality of life. Their disease has profound impact on the health care system, and their treatment uses a disproportionate amount of health care dollars. Moreover, ethnic minorities and women disproportionately share this burden. Although the currently funded Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN) has contributed substantially to a more comprehensive understanding of asthma pathogenesis and treatment, all of the protocols performed thus far have focused on patients with mild to moderate asthma. This lack of previous ACRN protocol development in severe persistent asthma, the increasing recognition of the importance of this group of patients in terms of morbidity and mortality within the international scientific community, and the ongoing work being conducted by various NHLBI-funded centers to characterize this group of patients make protocols focused on the treatment of severe persistent asthma a logical and important next step for the newly created ACRN funded by this RFA. To address this need, we have developed two protocols that deal with Severe Persistent Asthma (SPA), termed SPA-1 and SPA-2. To maximize subject eligibility and enrollment, a unique feature of SPA-1 and SPA-2 is that they share a common initial period, termed the Asthma Characterization Phase (ACP). During the ACP, aggravating conditions, corticosteroid requirements, and overall asthma stability will be assessed and managed following standardization of therapy on an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in combination with a long acting beta agonist prior to allocation into one of the two protocols. SPA-1 will enroll subjects who have unstable disease despite receiving high doses of ICS and randomize them into a double-blind cross-over trial that will evaluate the efficacy of adding either theophylline or a leukotdene receptor antagonist, two approaches recommended by treatment guidelines but not proven to be effective in this group of patients. SPA-2 will enroll subjects who are unable to wean successfully from oral corticosteroids and randomize them into a double-blind cross-over trial that will evaluate the efficacy of targeting either chronic infection (macrolide antibiotic) or refractory inflammation (immunosuppressive therapy with mycophenolate mefetil) as a means of first, improving symptom control (Phase 1), and second, reducing oral corticosteroid burden (Phase 2). As companion studies, SPA-1 and SPA-2 are uniquely designed to maximize subject enrollment that will provide essential evidence-based recommendations for the effective and safe treatment of various phenotypic patterns of patients with severe persistent asthma.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Cooperative Clinical Research--Cooperative Agreements (U10)
Project #
5U10HL074212-03
Application #
6946823
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1-CSR-B (M1))
Program Officer
Smith, Robert A
Project Start
2003-09-15
Project End
2008-07-31
Budget Start
2005-08-01
Budget End
2006-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$1,017,769
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Lugogo, Njira; Green, Cynthia L; Agada, Noah et al. (2018) Obesity's effect on asthma extends to diagnostic criteria. J Allergy Clin Immunol 141:1096-1104
Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M; Krishnan, Jerry A; Berry, Alalia et al. (2017) Race is associated with differences in airway inflammation in patients with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 140:257-265.e11
Teodorescu, Mihaela; Xie, Ailiang; Sorkness, Christine A et al. (2014) Effects of inhaled fluticasone on upper airway during sleep and wakefulness in asthma: a pilot study. J Clin Sleep Med 10:183-93
Peters, Stephen P; Bleecker, Eugene R; Kunselman, Susan J et al. (2013) Predictors of response to tiotropium versus salmeterol in asthmatic adults. J Allergy Clin Immunol 132:1068-1074.e1
Denlinger, Loren C; Manthei, David M; Seibold, Max A et al. (2013) P2X7-regulated protection from exacerbations and loss of control is independent of asthma maintenance therapy. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 187:28-33
Calhoun, William J; Ameredes, Bill T; King, Tonya S et al. (2012) Comparison of physician-, biomarker-, and symptom-based strategies for adjustment of inhaled corticosteroid therapy in adults with asthma: the BASALT randomized controlled trial. JAMA 308:987-97
Sutherland, E Rand; Goleva, Elena; King, Tonya S et al. (2012) Cluster analysis of obesity and asthma phenotypes. PLoS One 7:e36631
McGrath, Kelly Wong; Icitovic, Nikolina; Boushey, Homer A et al. (2012) A large subgroup of mild-to-moderate asthma is persistently noneosinophilic. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 185:612-9
Szefler, Stanley J; Chinchilli, Vernon M; Israel, Elliot et al. (2012) Key observations from the NHLBI Asthma Clinical Research Network. Thorax 67:450-5
Busse, William W; Lemanske Jr, Robert F; Gern, James E (2010) Role of viral respiratory infections in asthma and asthma exacerbations. Lancet 376:826-34

Showing the most recent 10 out of 19 publications