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β-thalassemiaNCT06440603

EKLF Gene Expression in β-thalassemia

An observational study of β-thalassemia, run by Rofaida Hassan Ahmed.

Not yet recruiting

Opening soon. The study is approved but enrolment has not started yet. Sites may already take enquiries.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial summary

1. Studying the effect of expression pattern of EKLF gene in β-thalassemic patients. 2. Detecting the correlation between the gene expression of EKLF and the clinical phenotype of β-thalassemic patients. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 5 to 80 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
β-thalassemia
What is being tested?
PCR
How many people
150 participants
Where
No sites listed yet
Study dates
1 Jul 2024to 1 Jul 2027
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 5 to 80 years
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Study population: Patients > 5 years diagnosed with β-thalassemia including both thalassemia major and intermedia

Who may be able to join

  • patients with β-thalassemia (major and intermedia).
  • patients are of both sexes (male or female) at any age

Who cannot join

  • patients with any other types of hemolytic anaemia

Trial locations and contacts

No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

About this study

Official title: Erythroid Krüppel Like Factor (EKLF) Gene Expression in β-thalassemia Patients

  1. Studying the effect of expression pattern of EKLF gene in β-thalassemic patients.
  2. Detecting the correlation between the gene expression of EKLF and the clinical phenotype of β-thalassemic patients.
Read the detailed description

β-thalassemia is a common inherited disorder caused by absent or reduced synthesis of the hemoglobin subunit beta (beta globin chain) , it has 3 clinical types; minor which is a carrier state, intermedia and major which are differentiated by blood transfusion dependency and lab findings.

In β-thalassemia, insufficient production of the β-globin molecule results in an excess of free α-globin chains that can precipitate within erythroid precursors, impairing their maturation and leads to death of these precursors and ineffective production of erythroid cells. As a result, a significant anaemia occurs and the consequent expansion of erythroid precursors can lead to secondary problems in bones and other organs.

These mutations are primarily point mutations that affect transcriptional control, translation, and splicing of the beta haemoglobin gene and gene expression.

The frequency of beta-thalassemia mutations varies by regions of the world with the highest prevalence in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Southeast and Central Asia. Approximately 68000 children are born with beta-thalassemia. Its prevalence is 80-90 million carriers, around 1.5% of the global population.

Erythroid Krüppel-like factor (EKLF or KLF1) is a transcriptional regulator that plays a major role in lineage-restricted control of gene expression. KLF1 expression and activity are tightly controlled in a temporal and differentiation stage-specific manner. The mechanisms by which KLF1 is regulated encompass a range of biological processes, including control of KLF1 RNA transcription, protein stability, localization, and posttranslational modifications. Intact KLF1 regulation is essential to correctly regulate erythroid function by gene transcription and to maintain hematopoietic lineage homeostasis by ensuring a proper balance of erythroid/megakaryocytic differentiation. In turn, KLF1 regulates erythroid biology by a wide variety of mechanisms, including gene activation and repression by regulation of chromatin configuration, transcriptional initiation and elongation, and localization of gene loci to transcription factories in the nucleus.

Previous studies have shown that EKLF plays a critical role in regulating the developmental switch between fetal and adult haemoglobin expression, both by direct activation of β-globin and indirect repression of γ-globin gene expression in adult erythroid progenitors via regulation of Bcl11a and ZBTB7a and PUM1.

PUM1 is a direct posttranscriptional regulator of β-globin switching, whose expression is regulated by the erythroid master transcription factor erythroid Krüppel-like factor (EKLF/KLF1), peaks during erythroid differentiation, binds γ-globin messenger RNA (mRNA), and reduces γ-globin (HBG1) mRNA stability and translational efficiency, which culminates in reduced γ-globin protein levels.

So, EKLF is too important in erythropoiesis and Hb switching that there are clinical trials nowadays depending on the molecules that targeted by EKLF (eg:Bcl11a, ZBTB7a and PUM1) and their role in Hb switching in treatment of thalassemia and other haemolytic anaemias as sickle cell anaemia.

Conditions
β-thalassemia
Being tested
PCR

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • PCRDiagnostic test

    Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for detection of EKLF:

    • The method of total RNA extraction: TRIZOL and TRIZOL LS.
    • The purity and concentration of the RNA will be measured using Nano Drop 2000 instument.
    • cDNA will be done with primers using thr Goscript Reverse Transcription System
Study groups in NCT06440603
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Group IAge and sex matched healthy Control
Receives: Diagnostic Test: PCR
Group 250 patients with β-thalassemia major
Receives: Diagnostic Test: PCR
Group 350 patients with β-thalassemia intermedia
Receives: Diagnostic Test: PCR

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. study the expression pattern of EKLF gene in β-thalassemic patients, work by measuring mRNA levels

    study the expression pattern of EKLF gene by Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in β-thalassemic patients

    Measured: Baseline

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. study the correlation between the gene expression of EKLF and the clinical phenotype of β-thalassemic patients.

    study the correlation between the gene expression of EKLF and the clinical phenotype of β-thalassemic patients.

    Measured: Baseline

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted4 Jun 2024
  2. Study start1 Jul 2024 (estimated)
  3. Primary completion1 Jul 2026 (estimated)
  4. Study completion1 Jul 2027 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrolment
150 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06440603
Sponsor's protocol ID
β-thalassemia
Status last verified
May 2024
First submitted
19 May 2024
Last updated
4 Jun 2024
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Publications

  • Sankaran VG, Orkin SH. The switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2013 Jan 1;3(1):a011643. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a011643.

    PubMed 23209159
  • Cao A, Galanello R. Beta-thalassemia. Genet Med. 2010 Feb;12(2):61-76. doi: 10.1097/GIM.0b013e3181cd68ed.

    PubMed 20098328
  • Origa R. beta-Thalassemia. Genet Med. 2017 Jun;19(6):609-619. doi: 10.1038/gim.2016.173. Epub 2016 Nov 3.

    PubMed 27811859
  • Yien YY, Bieker JJ. EKLF/KLF1, a tissue-restricted integrator of transcriptional control, chromatin remodeling, and lineage determination. Mol Cell Biol. 2013 Jan;33(1):4-13. doi: 10.1128/MCB.01058-12. Epub 2012 Oct 22.

    PubMed 23090966
  • Borg J, Papadopoulos P, Georgitsi M, Gutierrez L, Grech G, Fanis P, Phylactides M, Verkerk AJ, van der Spek PJ, Scerri CA, Cassar W, Galdies R, van Ijcken W, Ozgur Z, Gillemans N, Hou J, Bugeja M, Grosveld FG, von Lindern M, Felice AE, Patrinos GP, Philipsen S. Haploinsufficiency for the erythroid transcription factor KLF1 causes hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin. Nat Genet. 2010 Sep;42(9):801-5. doi: 10.1038/ng.630. Epub 2010 Aug 1.

    PubMed 20676099
  • Elagooz R, Dhara AR, Gott RM, Adams SE, White RA, Ghosh A, Ganguly S, Man Y, Owusu-Ansah A, Mian OY, Gurkan UA, Komar AA, Ramamoorthy M, Gnanapragasam MN. PUM1 mediates the posttranscriptional regulation of human fetal hemoglobin. Blood Adv. 2022 Dec 13;6(23):6016-6022. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021006730.

    PubMed 35667093
  • Siatecka M, Soni S, Planutis A, Bieker JJ. Transcriptional activity of erythroid Kruppel-like factor (EKLF/KLF1) modulated by PIAS3 (protein inhibitor of activated STAT3). J Biol Chem. 2015 Apr 10;290(15):9929-40. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.610246. Epub 2015 Feb 24.

    PubMed 25713074

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of β-thalassemia, run by Rofaida Hassan Ahmed.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Jun 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Rofida Hassan (+2 1019935111, mahaseb_rofaida@yahoo.com), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

study the expression pattern of EKLF gene in β-thalassemic patients, work by measuring mRNA levels (time frame: Baseline). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06440603, which also lists 7 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Jun 2024.

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