Active clinical trials for "Cystic Fibrosis"

To describe the effectiveness of Kalydeco® treatment in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have 1 of 8 non G551D gating CFTR mutations (G178R, S549N, S549R, G551S, G1244E, S1251N, S1255P, or G1349D).

The purpose of this study is to confirm the long-term safety and effectiveness of Kalydeco® (ivacaftor) in US CF patients with the R117H-CFTR mutation <18 years of age and to describe the long-term safety and effectiveness of Kalydeco in CF patients with the R117H-CFTR mutation overall and in patients ≥18 years. The long-term safety and effectiveness of Kalydeco will be examined in totality through the evaluation of the primary outcome measures.

Most Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients now commonly live well into adulthood, this means they are progressively accumulating damage to the insulin-secreting cells inside their pancreas. This explains why most adult patients have some degree of abnormal sugar regulation & rates of diabetes rise significantly with age. CF related diabetes is categorically different from other types of diabetes & its development is serious as it heralds a faster decline in lung function & a reduced life expectancy. The hallmark of abnormal sugar handling in CF is high glucose levels after meals as the damaged pancreas responds abnormally slowly. Over 70% of the initial response of a healthy pancreas is induced, not by glucose alone, but by hormones released from the bowel known as incretins. We want to establish whether incretins are important in blood sugar handling in CF as specific drugs that enhance their effect are now available. The study hypothesis is that the incretin system will function normally in patients with Cystic Fibrosis. To show this we will measure how much insulin secretion is dependant on incretin hormones in CF patients by comparing levels after a sugary drink test and then an intravenous glucose drip test (run at a rate that mimics the blood sugar levels obtained during the first test to make it a fair comparison ) - as incretins will only be produced in the first test when the sugar passes through the bowel any extra insulin produced will be due to these hormones. To detect resistance to the incretin hormones we will separately measure responses to direct infusions of the hormones themselves. We will explore which components of meals cause incretin hormone release from the bowel wall by measuring blood levels after different types of meals are consumed. Finally we will measure levels of the enzyme that breaks down the incretin hormones (DPP-4) to know if they are deactivated more quickly in people with CF. By describing the incretin system in CF we will considerably improve our understanding of this important condition as well as potentially highlighting new ways to treat it.

Shortness of breath (dyspnea) during exercise is a major source of distress and is a commonly reported symptom in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Due to the investigators' poor understanding of how dyspnea develops, there are no treatments that consistently reduce dyspnea in this population. The investigators aim to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the physiological mechanisms of exertional dyspnea in CF patients. This study will likely identify an important physiological mechanism of dyspnea in CF and may contribute to the development and use of effective treatments to reduce dyspnea in this population. The central hypothesis is that the impaired tidal volume (VT) response during exercise in CF, in the setting of increased ventilatory demand will give rise to different qualitative descriptions of exertional dyspnea compared with healthy age and sex-matched controls. Specifically, CF patients will select "increased work and effort" as their dominant descriptor of dyspnea up to the VT inflection/plateau. Beyond this point, CF patient's dominant descriptor will become "unsatisfied inspiration." In contrast, healthy control participants will report "increased work and effort" throughout all phases of exercise and will not report "unsatisfied inspiration", even after the VT inflection/plateau.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive genetic disease in Caucasians. It results in lung disease that affects quality of life and causes early death. Lung damage from CF starts in infancy and continues over time. Lung damage can negatively affect how the lung functions. It would be ideal to measure lung damage in CF patients in three instances: (1) During the first year of life after diagnosis by state newborn screening programs, (2) In children and adults over long periods of time (years), and (3) During times of illness (pulmonary exacerbation), to allow for better treatment and therapy to prevent loss of lung function. The lung is made of elastin, collagen and cartilage. When the lung is damaged by CF, these components break down into pieces that can be measured in urine, sputum and blood. These products may represent markers of lung injury. We believe that the levels of these markers will be increased over time in CF patients and even higher in patients who are sick with lung symptoms. The goal of my research is to measure the amount of lung breakdown products in urine, sputum and blood in infants, children and adults with CF during times when well and also during times of illness. I also hope to use new technologies involving the study of proteins and metabolites in samples like sputum, urine and blood to help provide new information regarding CF lung disease. These studies will help us to better treat CF lung disease.

Given the treatment burden and excess morbidity and mortality associated with acute infective exacerbations in cystic fibrosis, a clear understanding of the mechanisms involved in the origins of an infective exacerbation and the response to antibiotics is vital to improving long-term outcomes in CF. This study will examine 3 areas of interest in CF exacerbations. Bacterial biodiversity and its clinical significance The role of bacteria which are able to rapidly mutate (hypermutators) Inter-bacterial communication and its role in infective exacerbations Study Hypothesis 1 Increased microbiological diversity represents a balanced community of bacteria. The presence of a diverse population of bacteria in CF infections therefore predicts a better outcome for treatment than when a population consists of a small number of more virulent organisms. Study Hypothesis 2 Pseudomonas aeruginosa hypermutators can mutate much more often than ordinary Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. Hypermutators are likely to grow better when the bacteria are under stress, such as during antibiotic treatment or during an infection. They are, however, weaker organisms because of the multiple mutations they have undergone. Their presence does not relate to clinical outcome but may be associated with the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Study Hypothesis 3 Some Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria communicate with each other by secreting and responding to chemicals known as quorum sensing (QS)molecules. As well as affecting the behaviour of bacteria, these QS molecules can cause inflammation in the lung of CF patients. Selective growth of QS-producing organisms can trigger lung exacerbations in CF. If antibiotics kill this population of bacteria and QS molecule levels drop in the lung, patients recover from infection quickly. Failure to kill these bacteria with antibiotics allow QS molecule levels to remain elevated and patients to have prolonged infections.

The investigators' Upstate Cystic fibrosis (CF) Care Center is very active in research. For example, in 2009, 68 of our 135 pediatric patients have been participating in 16 clinical trials. Sponsors often provide their study sites with spirometers to use for PFTs. These machines are meant to provide uniform PFTs results for studies, which include measurement of FEV1 values. In 2009, among the 52 patients at our Center who are 6-12 years old, 20 (38%) have been in studies with sponsor-provided spirometers. Among the 32 patients ages 13-17 years, 13 (40%) have been in studies with sponsor-provided spirometers. Anecdotally, the investigators have noted that FEV1 results obtained during clinical trials for our patients appear to be lower than those of our patients' usual values, especially with younger children. The investigators hypothesize that the apparent difference in PFT results might be related to the different incentives (if any) provided by study PFT equipment. Further, if this difference exists, the investigators believe that this may account for the apparent average decline in the lung function results of our patients over the recent years, given the large proportion of our patients who participate in clinical trials. Finally, the investigators hypothesize that younger children may be more affected by the difference in incentives than older ones. The purpose of this study is to collect an additional set of Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) using our regular clinic equipment, on all study subjects following their study PFTs if these are done with sponsor-provided equipment. The investigators will compare the results from both types of machines and report regarding differences identified.

This is a multicenter, prospective, two cohort, observational study over a 5-year period in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients with chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.The study will collect data over 1 year on respiratory function, antibacterial effectiveness, and clinical outcomes of treatment with inhaled antipseudomonal antibiotics and data over 5 years on microbiological and safety assessments.

Exacerbation in cystic fibrosis play an important role in terms of mortality and morbidity. Exacerbation frequencies is relatedto FEV1 decline and mortality. There is a relationship between exacerbation frequency and QoLdeterioration. Moreover exacerbation treatments present health costs burden leading to important physical psychological and social impact. Preventing exacerbation and early detection of these exacerbations may decrease intensity and freqauency of exacerbation leading to increase clinical status and QoLwith a decreased health cost. Patients actually follow in CRCM track exacerbations when visits out patient clinic and during phone call. If patients did not call or did not present regularly to out patient clinic, exacerbation detection came later and so increasde the burden and therapeutic pressure. The objective of our study is to identify earlier the potential exacerbations and so decreased the health costs and increased the patient's QoL. Forthis purpose we propose to use modern technologiessuch as smartphone in order to create alert when patients report weekly health satatus. We will compra patients randomize in control group with standart follow-up to patients randomize in the smartphone group.Moreover we will study the compliance and satisfactory degree of the use of this device in the interventional arm.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the global approach to the pain in cystic fibrosis patients with chronic or intermittent pain. The patients will receive in addition to an usual pharmacological and psychological management, sophrology sessions at home. The results of this study will provide a new strategy of management of the patient's pain.