Specific Aim: To determine whether neutrophils, active elastase, and cytokines measured in sputum induced using hypertonic saline are useful screening tests for determining if a particular agent with known anti-inflammatory properties is a suitable candidate for more extensive clinical trials in patients with CF. This aim will be addressed using an anti-inflammatory agent, ibuprofen, that has been shown to have clinical benefit in CF. A "no treatment" arm will be included as the control group.
Inflammation clearly contributes to the progression of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. Anti-inflammatory therapy with alternate-day corticosteroids and twice-daily high-dose ibuprofen in patients with CF has shown clinical benefit, but adverse effects and other considerations have markedly limited their use. Therefore, alternative anti-inflammatory agents are urgently needed. Results from the clinical trials of alternate-day corticosteroids and high-dose ibuprofen in CF indicate that anti-inflammatory therapy will probably not result in improvement in pulmonary function, but will slow the rate of decline. This expectation imposes constraints on the design of studies to test new anti-inflammatory agents, requiring that they use many patients over a considerable period of time (years, rather than the months that are necessary to evaluate anti-infective or anti-obstructive therapies). Thus, it is highly desirable to design a strategy for evaluation of prospective anti-inflammatory agents that will allow for the selection of only the most promising agents for further study in Phase III type trials. Of additional concern is the fact that some pharmaceutical firms have not pursued development of anti-inflammatory agents for CF because there were no early indicators of efficacy. This presents an insurmountable hurdle for translation of research advances into clinical treatments. Some means of screening candidate drugs is urgently required. This study will assess the measurement of inflammatory mediators in induced sputum as one such strategy. The hypothesis to be tested is that ibuprofen will reduce neutrophils, active elastase, and pro-inflammatory cytokines in induced sputum after 4 weeks of therapy in patients with CF.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
120
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Stanford University - Packard Children's Hospital
Palo Alto, California, United States
Changes in markers of inflammation in induced sputum samples: total white cell count, total neutrophil count, percent neutrophils, active elastase, and cytokines.
(1) Alterations in laboratory evaluations: CBC, ESR, CRP, serum chemistry profile, urinalysis, and spirometry. (2) Adverse events associated with sputum induction or administration of study medications
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University of California - San Diego
San Diego, California, United States
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center - Children's Hospital
Denver, Colorado, United States
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Harvard University - Children's Hospital of Boston, Pulmonary Division
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
University Of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Washington University - St. Louis Children's Hospital
St Louis, Missouri, United States
...and 6 more locations