Active clinical trials for "Kleine-Levin Syndrome"

CoRDS, or the Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford, is based at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It provides researchers with a centralized, international patient registry for all rare diseases. This program allows patients and researchers to connect as easily as possible to help advance treatments and cures for rare diseases. The CoRDS team works with patient advocacy groups, individuals and researchers to help in the advancement of research in over 7,000 rare diseases. The registry is free for patients to enroll and researchers to access. Visit sanfordresearch.org/CoRDS to enroll.

Type 1 narcolepsy (NT1) is a chronic sleep disorder caused by the selective and irreversible loss of neurons from the hypothalamus, which synthesizes a neurotransmitter: hypocretin (Hcrt) / orexin. The exact cause of this destruction is still unknown, but the autoimmune hypothesis is strongly favored, involving the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The treatment of NT1 is currently only symptomatic, targeting hypersomnolence and cataplexy. To prevent the destruction of Hcrt neurons, immunomodulatory agents have been tested, with varying efficacy, probably due to varying degrees of hypothalamic impairment and stages of disease progression. During microglial activation, a condition associated with neuroinflammation in the brain, there is an increase in the mitochondrial translocation protein (TSPO), which can be quantified in vivo by specific tracers, such as the [18F] DPA- 714, in positron emission tomography (PET), a very sensitive nuclear imaging technique. The aim here is to study microglial activation in PET [18F] DPA-714 in NT1 patients with recent evolution in comparison with controls; then analyze the effect of age, and the severity of symptoms on this PET imaging biomarker. The hypothesis is that microglial activation, especially of the hypothalamic region, is greater in NT1 than controls.

The investigators perform neuropsychological tests and brain scintigraphy in 30 healthy subjects. These results will be compared with data obtained out of episode in patients with Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS). The investigators want to determine if brain functional imaging and cognitive abnormalities persist during asymptomatic period in a large series of patients with KLS, and to find predictors of these abnormalities.