Transformative Research in Diabetic Nephropathy

NCT ID: NCT02986984

Last Updated: 2025-07-22

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

RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

400 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2016-12-31

Study Completion Date

2027-06-30

Brief Summary

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This is a prospective, observational, cohort study of patients with a clinical diagnosis of diabetes who are undergoing clinically indicated kidney biopsy. The intent is to collect, process, and study kidney tissue and to harvest blood, urine and genetic materials to elucidate molecular pathways and link them to biomarkers that characterize those patients have a rapid decline in kidney function (\> 5 mL/min/1.73m2/year) from those with lesser degrees of kidney function change over the period of observation. High through-put genomic analysis associated with genetic and biomarker testing will serve to identify key potential therapeutic targets for DKD by comparing patients with rapid and slow progression patterns. Each participating clinical site will search for, consent, harvest the biopsy sample, and enroll the participants as required for the TRIDENT protocol.

Detailed Description

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Progress in the area of diabetic kidney research leading to new therapeutics development has been very limited. Indeed, no new medicines indicated for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) have been approved since ARB's have become standard of care nearly 15 years ago. Several factors explain the limited progress including but not limited to; a) animal and cell culture models do not recapitulate human DKD b) human genetic studies so far have failed to identify reproducible genetic variants associated with DKD c) the clinical manifestation of DKD is heterogeneous and might have even changed since the original description d) DKD is a clinical diagnosis and it is not clear what percentage of patients have histological disease.

Laboratory mice have served as invaluable tools to understand human disease development. As mouse genetic tools became readily available, it enabled us to perform time and cell type specific gene manipulation in animals to generate disease models and to understand the contributions of specific pathways. Unfortunately, mouse models do not recapitulate human diabetic kidney disease as animals develop only early DKD lesions; mesangial expansion and mild albuminuria11. Most models do not develop arterial hyalinosis, tubulointerstitial fibrosis and declining glomerular filtration rate (GFR); hallmarks of progressive DKD. There are several fundamental differences in gene expression patterns and physiology of human and murine kidneys. Such differences may explain the lack of translatability between mice and humans of pharmacological approaches aimed at treating DKD. This seems to be a general trend in other disease areas as well (for example Alzheimer's disease), leading to a recent movement toward translational and clinical research with increasing reliance on human samples.

Human genetic studies made paradigm-shifting observations in relatively rare monogenic forms of kidney diseases (including polycystic kidney disease and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis). Diabetic CKD on the other hand follows a complex polygenic pattern. Currently, the most powerful method to define the genetics of complex diseases such as DKD is genome wide association (GWAS), where associations between polymorphisms and the disease state are tested. Prior studies indicate that for complex traits, such as DKD, genetic polymorphisms that are associated with disease state are localized to the non-coding region of the genome12,13. Moreover, the genetic architecture of diabetic kidney disease has not been characterized and several large collaborations are currently addressing this issue14. Thus, the next challenge is to define target genes, target cell types and the mode of dysregulation caused by non-coding snips (SNPs15). Such studies require large collection of human tissue samples from disease relevant organs.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) remains a clinical diagnosis. Subjects with CKD in the presence of diabetes and albuminuria are considered to have diabetic nephropathy. Such definition is used in clinical practice and in research studies including clinical trials. Studies performed in 1980 provide the basis for the practice16,17. Investigators stage DKD as a progressive disease, beginning with the loss of small amounts of albumin into the urine (30-300mg/day; known as the stage of microalbuminuria, high albuminuria, occult or incipient nephropathy), then larger amounts (\>300mg/day; known as macroalbuminuria, very high albuminuria or overt nephropathy), followed by progressive decline in kidney function (eGFR), renal impairment and ultimately ESRD 17-19. This paradigm has proved useful in clinical studies, especially in type 1 diabetes, for identifying cohorts at increased risk of adverse health outcomes. However, boundaries between stages of DKD are artificial and the relationship between urinary albumin excretion and adverse health outcomes is log-linear in clinical practice. Indeed, the American Diabetes Association recently abandoned staging of albuminuria (ACR) for a more-straightforward \[ACR \>30 mg/g, (albuminuria present); ACR \<30 mg/g (albuminuria absent)\] criterion. Moreover, many patients, and especially those with type 2 diabetes, do not follow this classical course in modern clinical practice. For example, many subjects with DKD do not manifest excessive urinary albumin loss20. Indeed, of the 28% of the UKPDS cohort who developed moderate to severe renal impairment, half did not have preceding albuminuria. In the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), of the 11% patients with type 1 diabetes who developed an eGFR\<60 ml/min/1.73m2, 40% never had experienced overt nephropathy21. In addition, most patients with microalbuminuria do not progressively exhibit an increase in urinary albumin excretion as in the classical paradigm with treatment-induced and spontaneous 'remission' of albuminuria widely observed22,23. Consequently, individuals with microalbuminuria may better be regarded as being at increased risk of developing progressive renal disease (as well as cardiovascular disease and other diabetic complications), rather than as actually having DKD per se. While over the last 40 years it became evident that the original description of DKD needs revision, no alternative criteria have emerged given the lack of solid data on the correlation between histopathological (gold standard) DKD diagnosis and clinical manifestations. It is also possible that, with the introduction of better glycemic control and anti-renin (RAAS) blockade, the disease has evolved necessitating new observational cohorts to understand the clinical disease course and manifestations.

Diabetic kidney disease presents with a variable rate of kidney function decline24. Data from large observational cohorts indicate that GFR decline frequently does not follow a linear course. Several groups are working on modeling GFR decline patterns in patients. Such studies contributed to emphasizing patients termed as "rapid progressors". There is no consensus definition for rapid progression. Many studies define rapid progressors as patients with greater than 3 cc/year GFR decrease but alternative cut points such as even 10 cc/year has also been used. Identification and clinical characterization of rapid progressors became the center of several large scale efforts as these are the patients who would likely need intensive clinical management25. Furthermore recent post-hoc analyses of the Diabetic Nephropathy (IDNT and RENAAL) studies indicate that clinical trial outcomes are mostly driven by a small number of subjects with unusually rapidly progressive GFR decline i.e. subjects that display characteristics of rapid progressors. While investigators are still awaiting accurate descriptions, biomarker and clinical descriptive studies have yielded several interesting observations. Albuminuria remains one of the strongest risk factor for "FDA-approved" (hard) renal outcomes; doubling of serum creatinine, dialysis or death. Indeed some of the latest studies indicate that using a 4 or a 6 variable model, that includes albuminuria, age, sex, serum phosphate, serum calcium and serum albumin has C-statistics score of 0.84-0.91 to predict ESRD 26,27. During the last years several new biomarkers have been identified that can potentially identify patients who are at increased risk for rapid loss of kidney function. For example blood and urinary levels of kidney injury molecule (KIM1) shows promise to identify patients who are at risk for kidney function decline. Recently, investigators showed that circulating levels of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 and 2 levels can identify patients with rapidly declining renal function 28. While these markers are generating increased interest; the critical questions remains; why do some patients follow a rapid decline in kidney function?

Conditions

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Diabetic Nephropathies Diabetic Glomerulosclerosis

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

COHORT

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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Confirmed Diabetic Nephropathy

Patients undergoing a clinically indicated kidney biopsy with a history of diabetes who satisfy pre-specified criteria for diabetic nephropathy.

There is no intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

There are no interventions

Confirmed Non-diabetic Nephropathy

Patients undergoing a clinically indicated kidney biopsy with a history of diabetes who fail pre-specified criteria for diabetic nephropathy.

There is no intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

There are no interventions

Interventions

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There is no intervention

There are no interventions

Intervention Type OTHER

Other Intervention Names

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There are no interventions

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Type 1 and 2 Diabetes by American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria
* Willingness to comply with study requirements, including intention to fully participate in protocol-specified follow-up at a clinical study site
* Able to provide informed consent
* Adult participants
* Planned medically indicated kidney biopsy, prescribed by a practicing nephrologist

Exclusion Criteria

* End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), defined as chronic dialysis or kidney transplant
* History of receiving dialysis for more than 30 days prior to biopsy
* Institutionalized
* Solid organ or bone marrow transplant recipient at time of first kidney biopsy
* Less than 3-year life expectancy
* History of active alcohol and/or substance abuse that in the investigator's assessment would impair the subject's ability to comply with the protocol
* Unable to provide informed consent
* Evidence of active cancer requiring treatment, other than non-melanoma skin cancer
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

100 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of North Carolina

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Northwestern University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of New Mexico

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Ohio State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Yale University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Oregon Health and Science University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Lehigh Valley Health Network

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Arkansas

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Southern California

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Virginia

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

Boehringer Ingelheim

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

GlaxoSmithKline

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

Gilead Sciences

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Novo Nordisk A/S

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Katalin Susztak, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania

Locations

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University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, United States

Site Status ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Stanford University

Palo Alto, California, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Northwestern University

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Site Status ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Mount Sinai Hospital

New York, New York, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Columbia University

New York, New York, United States

Site Status ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

The Bronx, New York, United States

Site Status ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Oregon Health & Science University

Portland, Oregon, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Lehigh Valley Health Network

Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Raymond R Townsend, MD

Role: CONTACT

267-738-3431

Facility Contacts

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Tawana Gibbs

Role: primary

501-686-5301

Kshama Mehta, PhD

Role: primary

650-736-1822

Katrina Blount

Role: primary

203-737-1575

Carlos Martinez

Role: primary

312-503-1808

Hugo Vilchis

Role: primary

505-272-5503

Stephanie Pagan

Role: primary

212-241-0059

Sara Kelley

Role: primary

919-445-2658

Melissa Riley

Role: primary

614-293-9904

Tatevik Mazmanyan

Role: primary

503-494-9548

Mary Sobotor

Role: primary

610-402-1592

Mustafa AL-Obaidi, MD

Role: primary

215-349-8035

Chakradhar Velagapudi

Role: primary

210-617-5300 ext. 15323

Igor Shumilin

Role: primary

434-924-9691

References

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Townsend RR, Guarnieri P, Argyropoulos C, Blady S, Boustany-Kari CM, Devalaraja-Narashimha K, Morton L, Mottl AK, Patel U, Palmer M, Ross MJ, Sarov-Blat L, Steinbugler K, Susztak K; TRIDENT Study Investigators. Rationale and design of the Transformative Research in Diabetic Nephropathy (TRIDENT) Study. Kidney Int. 2020 Jan;97(1):10-13. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2019.09.020. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31901339 (View on PubMed)

Abedini A, Zhu YO, Chatterjee S, Halasz G, Devalaraja-Narashimha K, Shrestha R, S Balzer M, Park J, Zhou T, Ma Z, Sullivan KM, Hu H, Sheng X, Liu H, Wei Y, Boustany-Kari CM, Patel U, Almaani S, Palmer M, Townsend R, Blady S, Hogan J, Morton L, Susztak K; TRIDENT Study Investigators. Urinary Single-Cell Profiling Captures the Cellular Diversity of the Kidney. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 Mar;32(3):614-627. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2020050757. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 33531352 (View on PubMed)

Palmer MB, Abedini A, Jackson C, Blady S, Chatterjee S, Sullivan KM, Townsend RR, Brodbeck J, Almaani S, Srivastava A, Avasare R, Ross MJ, Mottl AK, Argyropoulos C, Hogan J, Susztak K. The Role of Glomerular Epithelial Injury in Kidney Function Decline in Patients With Diabetic Kidney Disease in the TRIDENT Cohort. Kidney Int Rep. 2021 Feb 3;6(4):1066-1080. doi: 10.1016/j.ekir.2021.01.025. eCollection 2021 Apr.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 33912757 (View on PubMed)

Hogan JJ, Owen JG, Blady SJ, Almaani S, Avasare RS, Bansal S, Lenz O, Luciano RL, Parikh SV, Ross MJ, Sharma D, Szerlip H, Wadhwani S, Townsend RR, Palmer MB, Susztak K, Mottl AK; TRIDENT Study Investigators. The Feasibility and Safety of Obtaining Research Kidney Biopsy Cores in Patients with Diabetes: An Interim Analysis of the TRIDENT Study. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2020 Jul 1;15(7):1024-1026. doi: 10.2215/CJN.13061019. Epub 2020 Apr 27. No abstract available.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 32341009 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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824503

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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