Clinical trial NCT05902039: MRI Study of Blood-brain Barrier Function in CADASIL
Official title: MRI Study of Blood-brain Barrier Function in CADASIL
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Cadasil
Blood Brain Barrier Defect
Lead sponsor: Peking University First Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Chinese Academy of Sciences
First posted: 2023-06-13
Enrollment: 100
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: All CADASIL patients and controls who met the criteria described below and who agreed to participate in this study were enrolled. All CADASIL patients included in this study have been visited at Peking University First Hospital, and the included controls were recruited from the community.

Brief summary: Diffusion prepared pseudo-continuous ASL (DP-pCASL) is a newly proposed MRI method to noninvasively measure the function of blood-brain barrier (BBB). The investigators aim to investigate whether the water exchange rate across the BBB, estimated with DP-pCASL, is changed in patients with CADASIL, and to analyze the association between BBB water exchange rate and MRI/clinical features in these patients.

Detailed description: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), caused by NOTCH3 gene mutations, is the most frequent monogenic type of hereditary cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). The unique pathophysiological mechanisms that small vessel disorders in CADASIL are caused by genetic mutations and that the majority of patients do not combine cerebrovascular disease risk factors make CADASIL an ideal model for studying CSVD, and the imaging findings on CADASIL can be used to diagnose and investigate the etiology of CSVD. While abnormalities in the cerebrovascular structure and hemodynamics have been well demonstrated in CADASIL, the abnormality of the BBB remains controversial. One DCE-MRI study suggested an increase in BBB permeability to gadolinium contrast in CADASIL, whereas no abnormality of BBB was found in subsequent studies in mouse models and patients. The aim of this study was to assess whether BBB function is abnormal in patients with CADASIL using DP-pCASL, which is more sensitive to subtle changes in the BBB compared to DCE-MRI. The investigators hypothesized that the BBB water exchange rate (kw) is reduced in patients with CADASIL compared to controls as assessed by DP-pCASL and that the degree of reduction in BBB water exchange rate correlates with the severity of disease in patients with CADASIL.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with CADASIL confirmed by gene or/and skin biopsy.
2. The age range is 20-70 years old.
3. There is no contraindication to MRI examination, and the informed consent is signed.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Combined with definite cerebrovascular disease, or combined with brain tumor, brain trauma and other causes of brain diseases.
2. CADASIL is not confirmed.
3. There are contraindications to examination or refusal to sign the informed consent.

Primary outcomes:
measure: kw
timeFrame: 30 Minutes
Secondary outcomes:
measure: CBF
timeFrame: 30 Minutes
measure: ATT
timeFrame: 30 Minutes
measure: QSM
timeFrame: 30 Minutes
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Beijing
country: China
facility: Peking University First Hospital
Study officials:
References:
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citation: Shao X, Ma SJ, Casey M, D'Orazio L, Ringman JM, Wang DJJ. Mapping water exchange across the blood-brain barrier using 3D diffusion-prepared arterial spin labeled perfusion MRI. Magn Reson Med. 2019 May;81(5):3065-3079. doi: 10.1002/mrm.27632. Epub 2018 Dec 18.
citation: Uchida Y, Kan H, Sakurai K, Arai N, Inui S, Kobayashi S, Kato D, Ueki Y, Matsukawa N. Iron leakage owing to blood-brain barrier disruption in small vessel disease CADASIL. Neurology. 2020 Sep 1;95(9):e1188-e1198. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010148. Epub 2020 Jun 25.
citation: Walsh J, Tozer DJ, Sari H, Hong YT, Drazyk A, Williams G, Shah NJ, O'Brien JT, Aigbirhio FI, Rosenberg G, Fryer TD, Markus HS. Microglial activation and blood-brain barrier permeability in cerebral small vessel disease. Brain. 2021 Jun 22;144(5):1361-1371. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab003.
citation: Sun C, Wu Y, Ling C, Xie Z, Sun Y, Xie Z, Li Z, Fang X, Kong Q, An J, Wang B, Zhuo Y, Zhang W, Wang Z, Yuan Y, Zhang Z. Reduced blood flow velocity in lenticulostriate arteries of patients with CADASIL assessed by PC-MRA at 7T. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2022 Apr;93(4):451-452. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2021-326258. Epub 2021 Sep 28. No abstract available.
citation: Li Y, Ying Y, Yao T, Jia X, Liang H, Tang W, Jia X, Song H, Shao X, Wang DJJ, Wang C, Cheng X, Yang Q. Decreased water exchange rate across blood-brain barrier in hereditary cerebral small vessel disease. Brain. 2023 Jul 3;146(7):3079-3087. doi: 10.1093/brain/awac500.