Stichting Katholieke Universiteit

This project will develop the first regimen meeting WHO criteria for a pan-TB indication, ie, not requiring knowledge of RIF susceptibility. The regimen will test sutezolid at 2 dose levels, with the approved anti-TB drugs bedaquiline and pretomanid, in a phase 2c trial. It will also test whether the addition of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a re-purposed host-directed WHO essential medicine, can protect the lung and liver against oxidative damage, preserve lung function, and accelerate the eradication of MTB infection by replenishing glutathione (GSH).

Resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs is a continually growing problem. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) is resistance to at least rifampicin and isoniazid, and extensively drug-resistant TB is additional resistance to a fluoroquinolone and a second injectable line drug. Methods currently employed in testing for resistance are inadequate and a contributing factor to the 40-50% MDR-TB treatment success rate. Current drug susceptibility testing methods are slow for most drugs, taking weeks. Rapid molecular methods such as the line probe assays, e.g. Hain GenoType MDRTBplus and sl, provide resistant calls to only a limited number of drugs, and are often less useful in smear negative patients.
Molecular technologies such as sequencing can provide a comprehensive readout of drug resistance and are able to detect resistant populations at very low levels (≤1%), thus enabling individualized therapy. This can be done directly from sputum. Targeted sequencing amplifies regions of genomic DNA associated with resistance prior to sequencing. Rapid analytic software is used to process the raw sequence data, identify resistance causing mutations and provide a readout of clinically relevant information. However, the feasibility, and more importantly the impact, of this approach has not been evaluated in a clinical trial to establish proof of concept.
Aim 1: To conduct a randomised controlled trial to determine the impact of sputum-based targeted sequencing in detecting resistance to second-line TB drugs compared to the current programmatic standard of care (Hain MDRTBplus/sl and adjunct phenotypic drug susceptibility testing) when used to inform of treatment for MDR-TB.
Aim 2: To compare currently available drug resistant sequencing pipelines for diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and predictive value as compared to culture based phenotypic drug susceptibility testing.
Aim 3: To compare the feasibility, accuracy, turn-aroundtime, and cost implications of the above-mentioned diagnostic approaches.

Brief Summary:
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a multi-factorial intervention, designed to limit the physiological and psychological effects of cardiovascular disease such as coronary artery disease (CAD), manage symptoms, and reduce the risk of future cardiovascular events. CR is a structured program not only addressing CAD but also comorbidities including hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and obesity as well as other risk factors. CR aims at long-term lifestyle changes to reduce modifiable risk factors, and it's success depends on a large number of interacting variables including biological, psychological and social factors. Recently, the importance of patient-centered approaches to secondary prevention and CR success has been underlined but intra-individual factors and their interactions are not well understood. The TIMELY prospective study aims to collect high-resolution data for data mining and artificial intelligence machine learning models to identify dependencies between factors and predict favorable outcomes of CR. Data collection will include data documented during controlled center-based CR as well as remote-measurement of physical activity data, (central) blood pressure and pulse wave analysis as well as long-term ECG data during a 6-months period after discharge. Follow-up assessments will be performed at least at 6 months and at 12 months after discharge.
Main objectives of the study:
1. To examine uptake and adherence to a healthy lifestyle (i. e. adherence to CR guidelines in CAD) and the effects on long-term outcomes.
2. To identify potentially mediating mechanisms and predictive factors for long-term CR success in CAD.
3. To investigate acceptance of different eHealth components as well as expectations and needs among CAD patents in CR.