• Bruce C Trapnell, Yoshikazu Inoue, Francesco Bonella, Cliff Morgan, Stéphane Jouneau, Elisabeth Bendstrup, Ilaria Campo, Spyros A Papiris, Etsuro Yamaguchi, Erdogan Cetinkaya, Mikhail M Ilkovich, Mordechai R Kramer, Marcel Veltkamp, Michael Kreuter, Tomohisa Baba, Cecilia Ganslandt, Inge Tarnow, Grant Waterer, Taneli Jouhikainen, and IMPALA Trial Investigators.
• From the Translational Pulmonary Science Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati (B.C.T.); National Hospital Organization Kinki-Chuo Chest Medical Center, Osaka (Y.I.), Aichi Medical University Hospital, Nagakute, Aichi (E.Y.), and Kanagawa Cardiovascular and Respiratory Center, Yokohama (T.B.) - all in Japan; Outpatients Clinic for Interstitial and Rare Lung Disease, Ruhrlandklinik University Hospital, Essen (F.B.), and Center for Interstitial and Rare Lung Diseases, Pulmonology, Thoraxklinik, Heidelberg University Hospital, and German Center for Lung Research, Heidelberg (M.K.) - all in Germany; the Departments of Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine, Royal Brompton Hospital, London (C.M.); Respiratory Diseases Department, Pontchaillou Hospital, IRSET UMR 1085, Rennes 1 University, Rennes, France (S.J.); the Department of Respiratory Diseases and Allergy, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus (E.B.), and Savara, Horsholm (C.G., I.T.) - both in Denmark; the Pneumology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy (I.C.); the 2nd Pulmonary Medicine Department, General University Hospital "Attikon," Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens (S.A.P.); University of Health Sciences Turkey, Yedikule Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul (E.C.); Pulmonary Clinic of St. Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russia (M.M.I.); Institute of Pulmonary and Allergy Medicine, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel (M.R.K.); ILD Center of Excellence, Department of Pulmonology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands (M.V.); the University of Western Australia, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Australia (G.W.); and Savara, Austin, TX (T.J.).
• N. Engl. J. Med. 2020 Oct 22; 383 (17): 1635-1644.

BackgroundAutoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP) is a rare disease characterized by progressive surfactant accumulation and hypoxemia. It is caused by disruption of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) signaling, which pulmonary alveolar macrophages require to clear surfactant. Recently, inhaled GM-CSF was shown to improve the partial pressure of arterial oxygen in patients with aPAP.MethodsIn a double-blind, placebo-controlled, three-group trial, we randomly assigned patients with aPAP to receive the recombinant GM-CSF molgramostim (300 μg once daily by inhalation), either continuously or intermittently (every other week), or matching placebo. The 24-week intervention period was followed by an open-label treatment-extension period. The primary end point was the change from baseline in the alveolar-arterial difference in oxygen concentration (A-aDo2) at week 24.ResultsIn total, 138 patients underwent randomization; 46 were assigned to receive continuous molgramostim, 45 to receive intermittent molgramostim, and 47 to receive placebo. Invalid A-aDo2 data for 4 patients (1 in each molgramostim group and 2 in the placebo group) who received nasal oxygen therapy during arterial blood gas measurement were replaced by means of imputation. For the primary end point - the change from baseline in the A-aDo2 at week 24 - improvement was greater among patients receiving continuous molgramostim than among those receiving placebo (-12.8 mm Hg vs. -6.6 mm Hg; estimated treatment difference, -6.2 mm Hg; P = 0.03 by comparison of least-squares means). Patients receiving continuous molgramostim also had greater improvement than those receiving placebo for secondary end points, including the change from baseline in the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire total score at week 24 (-12.4 points vs. -5.1 points; estimated treatment difference, -7.4 points; P = 0.01 by comparison of least-squares means). For multiple end points, improvement was greater with continuous molgramostim than with intermittent molgramostim. The percentages of patients with adverse events and serious adverse events were similar in the three groups, except for the percentage of patients with chest pain, which was higher in the continuous-molgramostim group.ConclusionsIn patients with aPAP, daily administration of inhaled molgramostim resulted in greater improvements in pulmonary gas transfer and functional health status than placebo, with similar rates of adverse events. (Funded by Savara Pharmaceuticals; IMPALA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02702180.).Copyright © 2020 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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