30-Day Trial of Oral Valtrex or Valtrex Plus Aspirin on Shedding of HSV DNA in Tears and Saliva of Volunteers

NCT ID: NCT00587496

Last Updated: 2008-01-07

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

PHASE1

Total Enrollment

60 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2006-04-30

Study Completion Date

2008-07-31

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to determine whether oral Valtrex alone or in combination with aspirin will reduce the shedding of herpes simplex virus DNA in the tears and saliva from volunteers with no evidence of ocular herpes infection. The secretion of virus into the tears and saliva might make people more susceptible to virus infection in the future if their immune system becomes deficient. The study will also try to determine if there is a correlation between shedding of viral DNA and herpes virus antibodies in serum and to determine if subjects are carriers of a special form of a gene in their blood cells, the presence of which may suggest the possibility of an increased susceptability to herpes and to Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.

Detailed Description

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Published studies have shown that treatment with oral acyclovir reduced clinical recurrences of ocular herpetic keratitis by about 40-50 %8, and treatment with valacyclovir, a more soluble prodrug of acyclovir, reduced the risk of transmission of genital herpes9, 10, 11. For this study, we will use the dose of valacyclovir that was shown effective in reducing the risk of transmission of HSV-2.9 The dose of 325 mg aspirin three times a day was chosen based on our experience with mice and other laboratory animals12. If it is effective and well tolerated at this dose, in future studies we will attempt to use lower doses and determine if they too may be effective.

Conditions

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Herpes Simplex

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators

Study Groups

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1

placebo, 6 capsules per day for 30 days

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

placebo

Intervention Type DRUG

lactose placebo capsule, six per day for 30 days

2

500 mg Valtrex one capsule per day plus 5 capsules of placebo per day for 30 days

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

valacyclovir hydrochloride

Intervention Type DRUG

500 mg capsule, one per day for 30 days

3

500 mg Valtrex capsule one per day, Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) 325 mg capsules three per day, plus 2 placebo capsules per day for 30 days

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

valacyclovir plus aspirin

Intervention Type DRUG

500 mg valacyclovir capsule, one per day for 30 days 325 mg acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin) capsule, three per day for 30 days placebo capsule, two per day for 30 days

Interventions

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valacyclovir hydrochloride

500 mg capsule, one per day for 30 days

Intervention Type DRUG

placebo

lactose placebo capsule, six per day for 30 days

Intervention Type DRUG

valacyclovir plus aspirin

500 mg valacyclovir capsule, one per day for 30 days 325 mg acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin) capsule, three per day for 30 days placebo capsule, two per day for 30 days

Intervention Type DRUG

Other Intervention Names

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Valtrex

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* either sex
* any race
* over age of 21 years

Exclusion Criteria

* have active ocular herpetic lesion
* had ocular herpetic lesion in past 30 days
* taking systemic or oral antiviral drugs
* have taken antiviral drugs in the past 30 days
* taking aspirin or NSAIDs
* have dry eyes
* have hypersensitivity to acyclovir or valacyclovir
* have hypersensitivity of contraindication to use of aspirin
* have bleeding disorder
* have GI ulcer
* have kidney impairment
* are pregnant or nursing
* have participated in a clinical trial in the past 30 days
Minimum Eligible Age

20 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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National Eye Institute (NEI)

NIH

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans

Principal Investigators

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Herbert E Kaufman, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

LSU Eye Center, LSU Health Sciences Center

Locations

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LSU Eye Center

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Children's Hospital

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Emily D Varnell, BS

Role: CONTACT

504 568-2254

Robin Cooper, BS

Role: CONTACT

504 568-2815

References

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Kaufman HE, Azcuy AM, Varnell ED, Sloop GD, Thompson HW, Hill JM. HSV-1 DNA in tears and saliva of normal adults. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005 Jan;46(1):241-7. doi: 10.1167/iovs.04-0614.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15623779 (View on PubMed)

Lindgren KM, Douglas RG Jr, Couch RB. Significance of Herpesvirus hominis in respiratory secretions of man. N Engl J Med. 1968 Mar 7;278(10):517-23. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196803072781001. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 4295319 (View on PubMed)

Douglas RG Jr, Couch RB. A prospective study of chronic herpes simplex virus infection and recurrent herpes labialis in humans. J Immunol. 1970 Feb;104(2):289-95. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 4312871 (View on PubMed)

Scott DA, Coulter WA, Biagioni PA, O'Neill HO, Lamey PJ. Detection of herpes simplex virus type 1 shedding in the oral cavity by polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at the prodromal stage of recrudescent herpes labialis. J Oral Pathol Med. 1997 Aug;26(7):305-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1997.tb00220.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9250929 (View on PubMed)

Hobson A, Wald A, Wright N, Corey L. Evaluation of a quantitative competitive PCR assay for measuring herpes simplex virus DNA content in genital tract secretions. J Clin Microbiol. 1997 Mar;35(3):548-52. doi: 10.1128/jcm.35.3.548-552.1997.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9041386 (View on PubMed)

Ryncarz AJ, Goddard J, Wald A, Huang ML, Roizman B, Corey L. Development of a high-throughput quantitative assay for detecting herpes simplex virus DNA in clinical samples. J Clin Microbiol. 1999 Jun;37(6):1941-7. doi: 10.1128/JCM.37.6.1941-1947.1999.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10325351 (View on PubMed)

Kessler HH, Muhlbauer G, Rinner B, Stelzl E, Berger A, Dorr HW, Santner B, Marth E, Rabenau H. Detection of Herpes simplex virus DNA by real-time PCR. J Clin Microbiol. 2000 Jul;38(7):2638-42. doi: 10.1128/JCM.38.7.2638-2642.2000.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10878056 (View on PubMed)

Acyclovir for the prevention of recurrent herpes simplex virus eye disease. Herpetic Eye Disease Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1998 Jul 30;339(5):300-6. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199807303390503.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9696640 (View on PubMed)

Corey L, Wald A, Patel R, Sacks SL, Tyring SK, Warren T, Douglas JM Jr, Paavonen J, Morrow RA, Beutner KR, Stratchounsky LS, Mertz G, Keene ON, Watson HA, Tait D, Vargas-Cortes M; Valacyclovir HSV Transmission Study Group. Once-daily valacyclovir to reduce the risk of transmission of genital herpes. N Engl J Med. 2004 Jan 1;350(1):11-20. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa035144.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 14702423 (View on PubMed)

Crumpacker CS. Use of antiviral drugs to prevent herpesvirus transmission. N Engl J Med. 2004 Jan 1;350(1):67-8. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe038189. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 14702430 (View on PubMed)

Gebhardt BM, Varnell ED, Kaufman HE. Acetylsalicylic acid reduces viral shedding induced by thermal stress. Curr Eye Res. 2004 Aug-Sep;29(2-3):119-25. doi: 10.1080/02713680490504588.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15512958 (View on PubMed)

Anon. New indications. Valtrex. FDA Drug Approvals 38:572-573, 2003.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Sheskin DJ. Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric tatistical Procedures. 2nd Edition. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL pp. 982,2000.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Other Identifiers

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EY002672

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: secondary_id

6475

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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