Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most frequent cause of mortality in the industrialized world. Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for the development and progression of CAD. While statins currently represent the first-line, gold-standard therapy for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, nearly 50% of patients in Europe and Canada treated with statins do not achieve their target levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) or cannot tolerate effective statin doses. Recently, a growing number of studies of PCSK9 inhibitors in a wide spectrum of patients with hyperlipidemia on or off lipid-lowering therapy, familial hypercholesterolemia, and statin intolerance demonstrated consistent, profound, and sustained reductions in LDL-C with greater magnitude of reduction as compared with high-dose statin regimens. However, the effects of PCSK9 inhibition on coronary plaque morphology remain unknown. This study will investigate the effect of the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab in patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the infarct-related artery and receiving guideline-recommended high-intensity statin therapy. A serial, multivessel, intravascular ultrasound, near-infrared spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography imaging study will be performed to determine the change in plaque volume at week 52. A total of 294 patients will be enrolled in the study and randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either alirocumab or placebo.
Substudies * Biobank/drug monitoring, all sites * Lipidomics (n=294), all sites * Platelet Function (n=\~150), Bern * Endothelial Function (n=\~150), Bern * Neatherosclerosis (n=\~294), all sites * Neutrophilic Extracellular Trap (NET), (n=\~50), Vienna * OCT-NIRS/IVUS Matching Substudy (n=\~104), Bern * Positron Emission Computed Tomography (PET-CT), (n=\~50), Copenhagen * Shear Stress (n=\~294), London * Quantitative Flow Ratio (QFR) (n=\~294), Bern
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
294
Pre-filled auto-injector pen every second week, starting at day 1 and up to week 50
University Hospital Vienna (AKH)
Vienna, Austria
Rigshospitalet
Copenhagen, Denmark
Radboud Univerity, Nijmegen Medical Centre
Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands
Erasmus Thoraxcentre
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Basel University Hospital
Basel, Switzerland
Bern University Hospital Inselspital
Bern, Switzerland
Hopitaux Universitaires Geneve
Geneva, Switzerland
Stadtspital Triemli
Zurich, Switzerland
University Hospital Zurich USZ
Zurich, Switzerland
Change in percent atheroma volume (PAV)
Change in PAV by greyscale intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in total lipid-core burden index (LCBItotal)
Change in LCBItotal as determined by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in maximum LCBI in any 4-mm segment (Powered)
Change in maximum LCBI in any 4-mm segment (maxLCBI4mm) as determined by NIRS
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in minimal fibrous cap thickness (Powered)
Change in minimal fibrous cap thickness as determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT)
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in mean fibrous cap thickness
Change in mean fibrous cap thickness as determined by OCT
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in average angular extension (AAE) of macrophages
Change in AAE of macrophages as determined by OCT
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in normalized total atheroma volume (NTAV)
Change in NTAV by IVUS
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in LDL-cholesterol
Change in LDL-cholesterol
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in hsCRP
Change in hsCRP
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in high sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT)
Change in hsTnT
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP)
Change in NT-pro-BNP
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Change in further biomarkers
Change in lipid and inflammatory markers and their association with indices of plaque progression/regression
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Death
Any death, cardiac death
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Non-fatal myocardial infarction
Any non-fatal myocardial infarction
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Ischemia-driven coronary revascularization
Any ischemia-driven coronary revascularization
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
Stroke
Any ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack
Time frame: Baseline to week 52
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