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@ARTICLE{Feil:163389,
author = {Feil, Katharina and Adrion, Christine and Boesch, Sylvia
and Doss, Sarah and Giordano, Ilaria and Hengel, Holger and
Jacobi, Heike and Klockgether, Thomas and Klopstock, Thomas
and Nachbauer, Wolfgang and Schöls, Ludger and Steiner,
Katharina Marie and Stendel, Claudia and Timmann, Dagmar and
Naumann, Ivonne and Mansmann, Ulrich and Strupp, Michael},
collaboration = {Group, ALCAT Study},
title = {{S}afety and {E}fficacy of {A}cetyl-{DL}-{L}eucine in
{C}ertain {T}ypes of {C}erebellar {A}taxia: {T}he {ALCAT}
{R}andomized {C}linical {C}rossover {T}rial.},
journal = {JAMA network open},
volume = {4},
number = {12},
issn = {2574-3805},
address = {Chicago, Ill.},
publisher = {American Medical Association},
reportid = {DZNE-2022-00151},
pages = {e2135841},
year = {2021},
note = {(CC BY)},
abstract = {Cerebellar ataxia is a neurodegenerative disease impairing
motor function characterized by ataxia of stance, gait,
speech, and fine motor disturbances.To investigate the
efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the modified essential
amino acid acetyl-DL-leucine in treating patients who have
cerebellar ataxia.The Acetyl-DL-leucine on Cerebellar Ataxia
(ALCAT) trial was an investigator-initiated, multicenter,
double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical
crossover trial. The study was conducted at 7 university
hospitals in Germany and Austria between January 25, 2016,
and February 17, 2017. Patients were aged at least 18 years
and diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia of hereditary
(suspected or genetically confirmed) or nonhereditary or
unknown type presenting with a total score of at least 3
points on the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia
(SARA). Statistical analysis was performed from April 2018
to June 2018 and January 2020 to March 2020.Patients were
randomly assigned (1:1) to receive acetyl-DL-leucine orally
(5 g per day after 2 weeks up-titration) followed by a
matched placebo, each for 6 weeks, separated by a 4-week
washout, or vice versa. The randomization was done via a
web-based, permuted block-wise randomization list (block
size, 2) that was stratified by disease subtype (hereditary
vs nonhereditary or unknown) and site.Primary efficacy
outcome was the absolute change of SARA total score from
(period-dependent) baseline to week 6.Among 108 patients who
were randomly assigned to sequence groups (54 patients
each), 55 $(50.9\%)$ were female; the mean (SD) age was 54.8
(14.4) years; and the mean (SD) SARA total score was 13.33
(5.57) points. The full analysis set included 105 patients
(80 patients with hereditary, 25 with nonhereditary or
unknown cerebellar ataxia). There was no evidence of a
difference in the mean absolute change from baseline to week
6 in SARA total scores between both treatments (mean
treatment difference: 0.23 points $[95\%$ CI, -0.40 to 0.85
points]).In this large multicenter, double-blind,
randomized, placebo-controlled clinical crossover trial,
acetyl-DL-leucine in the investigated dosage and treatment
duration was not superior to placebo for the symptomatic
treatment of certain types of ataxia. The drug was well
tolerated; and ALCAT yielded valuable information about the
duration of treatment periods and the role of placebo
response in cerebellar ataxia. These findings suggest that
further symptom-oriented trials are needed for evaluating
the long-term effects of acetyl-DL-leucine for well-defined
subgroups of cerebellar ataxia.EudraCT 2015-000460-34.},
keywords = {Administration, Oral / Adult / Aged / Cerebellar Ataxia:
classification / Cerebellar Ataxia: drug therapy /
Cross-Over Studies / Double-Blind Method / Drug
Administration Schedule / Female / Humans / Leucine:
administration $\&$ dosage / Leucine: analogs $\&$
derivatives / Male / Middle Aged / Treatment Outcome /
Leucine (NLM Chemicals) / acetylleucine (NLM Chemicals)},
cin = {Patient studies, Bonn / AG Gasser 1 / AG Klockgether / AG
Höglinger 2 / AG Höglinger 1},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1011101 / I:(DE-2719)1210000 /
I:(DE-2719)1011001 / I:(DE-2719)1111015 /
I:(DE-2719)1110002},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:34905009},
pmc = {pmc:PMC8672236},
doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.35841},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/163389},
}