Upstate participates in national NIH diabetes drug study

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A medication commonly used to treat gout is being tested in a NIH-supported clinical trial at Joslin Diabetes Center at Upstate Medical University as a possible therapy to prevent the loss of kidney function that sometimes occurs in people with Type 1 diabetes.

If proved successful, the drug, allopurinol, can provide a safe and inexpensive treatment that can be given at the earliest clinically detectable stages of renal injury in persons with Type 1 diabetes.

People with Type 1 diabetes are being recruited for this 3 ½-year study, PERL (Preventing Early Renal Function Loss in Diabetes), which is is  being conducted at the Upstate Joslin Diabetes Center and seven other diabetes centers in the United States and abroad. Collectively, 480 patients will be recruited to participate in the study. Upstate is looking to recruit volunteers from the Central New York region.

Ruth Weinstock, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the trial at Upstate, says that evidence from previous studies indicate that moderately elevated serum uric acid is a strong, independent predictor of an increased risk of chronic kidney disease and increased rates of loss of kidney function among persons with Type 1 diabetes.

“Allopurinol is an FDA-approved medication that has been safely used for many years to decrease high blood uric acid and treat gout, a disease characterized by arthritis,” said Weinstock, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and medical director of Joslin Diabetes Center at Upstate. “There is some evidence suggesting that allopurinol might also be useful in people with diabetes who have normal kidney function or early to moderate kidney function loss by decreasing uric acid, therefore reducing the risk of developing kidney disease in the future. Findings from this study will add to the research.”

The clinical trial will evaluate the effectiveness of allopurinol as compared to placebo in reducing kidney function loss among people with Type 1 diabetes.

Study volunteers will be  assigned randomly to two equal groups and take either allopurinol or a placebo, with neither the volunteer nor the doctor knowing which will be taken.

Volunteers must visit the Clinical Research Unit at Upstate over a period of about 3 ½ years and take allopurinol or placebo pills once a day during the study. The placebo pills are inactive pills that look like allopurinol.

Weinstock says that although the PERL trial targets Type 1 diabetes individuals at highest risk of kidney function decline, the use of allopurinol as a renoprotective agent may also be relevant to relatively low-risk Type 1 diabetes patients.

Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, but can occur at any age. It was previously known as juvenile diabetes. Approximately 10 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.

To learn more about the study or about eligibility, contact study coordinator Jane Bulger at 315-464-9008.

Caption: Ruth Weinstock, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and medical director of the Upstate Joslin Diabetes Center, is principal investigator of the PERL study.