Current pharmacological management of inflammatory rheumatism and in particular axial SpA remains imperfect. Only 50% of patients respond to the most effective biotherapies, and many of them are only partially relieved. In addition, these are extremely expensive treatments that expose them to the risk of potentially serious side effects. Compelling evidence indicates that gut dybiosis could be a critical trigger of inflammation in axial SpA and thus correcting dysbiosis represents an attractive way of reversing the pathogenic process.The efficacy of FMT in patients with axial SpA has never been studied. This randomized double-blind study will be the first to assess feasability of FMT in axial SpA, the capacity of this procedure to restore healthy microbiome, its tolerance and its potential efficacy on disease activity. If sucessfull, this trial would set the path to larger-scale clinical trials of FMT to treat axial SpA.
Two-co primary objectives in a hierarchical design:
* to evaluate the capacity of FMT to correct dysbiosis in active axial SpA despite well-conducted phamacological treatment by replacing pre-existing dysbiotic microbiota with healthier microbiota. * to explore the efficacy of FMT versus placebo on clinical evolution of SpA.
Adult patient (age 18 to 75 years old) with SpA, meeting the ASAS classification criteria for axial SpA, with presence of radiographic sacro-illitis (ankylosing spondylitis) or not.
Patient suffering of active SpA, with or without treatment, having a BASDAI score ≥ 4 (0-10) at baseline and a score of back pain ≥ 4 (0-10) despite optimal drug management for at least 6 months including at least 2 different NSAIDs at the maximum tolerated dose for at least 2 months (or less in case of intolerance or contra-indication) and at least a first line of biotherapy (anti-TNFα or anti-IL-17) for at least 4 months (or less in case of intolerance or contra-indication).
Subjects are allowed to continue NSAID, sulfasalazin (≤ 3 g/day) and/or methotrextae ( ≤ 25 mg/week) and/or hydroxychloroquine (≤ 400 mg/day) and/or oral corticosteroid (≤ 10 mg/day of prednisone), as long as these treatments have remained at stable dose for 4 weeks prior to baseline.
Subjects are allowed to continue anti-TNFα, anti-IL-17 or JAKinhibitor therapies, as long as these treatments have remained at stable dose for 3 months prior to baseline.
Patient under legal protection (guardianship or curatorship)
Subject who, in the judgment of the Investigator, is likely to be non-compliant or uncooperative during the study, or unable to cooperate because of a language problem, poor mental development
Pregnant or breastfeeding woman
Patient with IBD in active state, according to the judgment of the Investigator
Parallel
active FMT
DrugMaaT033®, a lyophilized full-ecosystem intestinal microbiota delayed release oral capsule containing native, donor-derived (pooled from 4-6 donors) microbiome product manufactured by MaaT Pharma® will be delivered orally. Patients will receive 20 Maat033 capsules, each containing approximatively 0.42 g of microbiome product at once at day 0, then 3 capsules/day from day 1 through day 20.
Placebo
DrugPatients will receive 20 capsules placebo, each containing placebo at once at day 0, then 3 capsules/day from day 1 through day 20.
Increase in gut Metagenome Species Pangenome (MSP) richness in the "intervention" arm.
Fecal microbiota composition will be assessed by thorough microbial DNA sequencing (shotgun) at baseline (anytime between D-4 and D-1) and then at D28, D42, D84 and D168. The success will be evaluated by an increase in gut Metagenome Species Pangenome (MSP) richness over the period of study.
The proportion of patients satisfying ASAS 20 improvement criteria by randomization group
ASAS20 is defined by an improvement of ≥ 20% and of ≥ 10 points on a 0-100 numerical scale of 3 of the 4 following domains: global evaluation by the patient (PGA), pain, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and inflammation (evaluated by the answer to both last questions of Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI)) as well as an absence of deterioration from baseline by ≥ 20% and by ≥ 10 points in the fourth domain. The comparison of ASAS20 scores at D42 between randomization groups will be an exploratory analysis, considering literature data.
efficacy of FMT
Superior efficacy of FMT over placebo defined by an increase in MSP richness at week 6 in the FMT group, superior to variation in the placebo group
Change of dysbiotic fecal microbiota
To correct dysbiotic fecal microbiota at weeks 3, 12 and 24 in FMT-treated group, by comparison with baseline. Fecal microbiota composition will be assessed by thorough microbial DNA sequencing (shotgun), in a way similar to week 6 in FMT and placebo groups and the variation between baseline and different end-points (weeks 3, 12, 24) will be compared between both arms.
Clinical improvement
Clinical improvement during the 24 weeks follow-up after FMT or sham-FMT. We will compare between both arms the proportion of patients satisfying ASAS20 improvement criteria at weeks 3, 6, 12 and 24 as compared to baseline (week 0). \[ASAS20 is defined by an improvement of at least 20% and of at least 10 points on a 0-100 scale in ≥ 3 of the following 4 domains: global assessment by the patient (PGA), back pain, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and inflammation (evaluated by the answer to both last questions of Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and absence of deterioration in the potential remaing domain, where deterioration is defined as a change for the worse of ≥ 20% and net worsening of ≥ 10 points (on a scale of 0-100)
ESR and CRP levels
Improvement of biological inflammation by ESR and CRP levels variation
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Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Lead sponsor
Fondation Arthritis & Clarins Worldwide 2016
Collaborator
