Clinical trial NCT01503125: Giant Axonal Neuropathy Natural History Study
Official title: Clinical Study of Giant Axonal Neuropathy
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Conditions: Giant Axonal Neuropathy
Keywords: GAN
Giant Axonal Neuropathy
Neuromuscular Disease
Natural History Study
Observational Study
Lead sponsor: Columbia University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
First posted: 2012-01-02
Enrollment: 13
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: People diagnosed with Giant Axonal Neuropathy

Brief summary: Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN) is a devastating and rare childhood disease. Children with GAN develop increasing muscle weakness, impaired sensation, and at times mental retardation. GAN starts in infancy, leads to significant disability, and typically leads to death within the first 30 years of life. GAN is caused by a defect in the "gigaxonin" (GAN) gene, resulting in pathologically enlarged and dysfunctional nerves. Currently, there is no effective therapy. To find out what medications can help patients with GAN, the investigators have to conduct clinical trials. In this study, the investigators propose to prepare for future clinical trials and will invite GAN patients to join our research effort.

The investigators will examine them regularly to better understand their disease. The visits will include questions, a physical exam, blood drawing, a lumbar puncture, and a skin biopsy. The visits will also include tests that assess the electrical conductivity of the patients' nerves as well as a test to measure the patients' brain wave activity. In addition, the investigators will be performing tests to evaluate the patients' motor function, their vision, and thinking ability. Identifying an effective GAN treatment is very important because there is currently none. Clinical trials are the only way to decide whether a new treatment works in GAN patients or not.

With the future objective of conducting clinical trials in GAN, the proposed project has three specific aims. The first is to plan for clinical trials by developing reliable outcome measures, and establishing the infrastructure needed to carry out efficient clinical trials. The second is to further characterize the patient population from a clinical and molecular point of view, and the third aim is to utilize the information gathered in this study to further pre-clinical GAN drug development to select candidate drugs.

Detailed description: Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN) is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder that appears during childhood and affects both the central and peripheral nervous systems. This disorder is generally characterized by motor and sensory involvement including progressive and predominant distal clumsiness, muscle weakness, and pronounced gait disturbances. GAN is caused by various mutations in the GAN gene that encodes the protein gigaxonin. This leads to giant axonal swelling and degeneration due to substantial accumulation of neurofilaments in the axon. Currently, there is no effective therapy, with onset occurring before the age of seven, and death usually occurring between the first and third decade of life.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Clinical diagnosis of Giant Axonal Neuropathy.
2. Documentation of the presence of a mutation in the GAN gene as determined by gene sequencing from a CAP/CLIA certified laboratory or an equivalent organization.
3. Parents or if applicable subjects must give informed consent must be capable of complying with the study procedures.
4. Willing and able to comply with all protocol requirements and procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unwilling or unable to travel to Columbia University Medical Center.
2. Unstable medical condition precluding participation.
3. Significant respiratory compromise that would interfere with safe travel to site of evaluation.
4. Having a contraindication to the MRI safety requirements, including pacemaker or other implanted electrical device, brain stimulator, some types of dental implants, aneurysm clips (metal clips on the wall of a large artery), metallic prostheses (including metal pins and rods, heart valves, and cochlear implants), implanted delivery pump, shrapnel fragments, or history of claustrophobia.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)
timeFrame: Up to 24 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Nerve Conduction Study (NCS)/Motor Unit Number Estimation (MUNE)
timeFrame: Up to 24 months
measure: Somatosensory Evoked Potential (SSEP)
timeFrame: Up to 24 months
measure: Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER)
timeFrame: Up to 24 months
measure: Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT)/Forced Vital Capacity (FVC)
timeFrame: Up to 24 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: New York
country: United States
facility: Columbia University Pediatric Neuromuscular Center
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Columbia University
name: Darryl DeVivo, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: