A Multicenter Clinical Trial of Allopurinol to Prevent Kidney Function Loss in Type 1 Diabetes

Summary

Despite improvements during the past 20 years in blood glucose and blood pressure control, diabetic kidney disease remains one of the most important causes of health problems in patients with diabetes. Novel treatments to complement blood glucose and blood pressure control are urgently needed. The goal of this study is to see whether a medication called allopurinol may help prevent loss of kidney function among people with type 1 diabetes. Allopurinol has been used for many years to decrease high blood uric acid and treat gout - a disease characterized by arthritis, especially of the foot joints. There is evidence suggesting that allopurinol might also be useful in people with diabetes who have normal or moderately impaired kidney function to decrease the risk of developing advanced kidney disease in the future. To prove this beneficial effect of allopurinol, we will be conducting an international clinical trial at eight diabetes centers, enrolling approximately 480 patients with type 1 diabetes who are at increased risk of developing kidney disease. Participants will be randomly assigned to take allopurinol or placebo (inactive pill) for three years, during which they will be followed through periodical visits. To prevent any possible bias, neither the participants nor the clinical staff knows who is taking allopurinol and who is taking the placebo. Kidney function will be measured at the beginning and at the end of the treatment period to see whether patients taking allopurinol experience a slower loss of kidney function over time as compared to those taking the inactive pill. If this trial is successful, the reduction in health problems resulting from the prevention or delay of kidney function loss due to the use of allopurinol would have a major impact on the lives of type 1 diabetic patients as well as on society at large, significantly reducing the human and financial costs associated with diabetic kidney disease. Because of the emphasis on early intervention, the proposed trial, if successful, will establish a new paradigm in treatments to slow or prevent progression towards end stage kidney disease in type 1 diabetes far beyond anything achieved to date.

Timeline

Start

2014-02

Primary completion

2019-07-15

Completion

2019-08-31

Publications

• Background Ficociello LH, Rosolowsky ET, Niewczas MA, Maselli NJ, Weinberg JM, Aschengrau A, Eckfeldt JH, Stanton RC, Galecki AT, Doria A, Warram JH, Krolewski AS. High-normal serum uric acid increases risk of early progressive renal function loss in type 1 diabetes: results of a 6-year follow-up. Diabetes Care. 2010 Jun;33(6):1337-43. doi: 10.2337/dc10-0227. Epub 2010 Mar 23.
• Background Hovind P, Rossing P, Tarnow L, Johnson RJ, Parving HH. Serum uric acid as a predictor for development of diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes: an inception cohort study. Diabetes. 2009 Jul;58(7):1668-71. doi: 10.2337/db09-0014. Epub 2009 May 1.
• Background Jalal DI, Rivard CJ, Johnson RJ, Maahs DM, McFann K, Rewers M, Snell-Bergeon JK. Serum uric acid levels predict the development of albuminuria over 6 years in patients with type 1 diabetes: findings from the Coronary Artery Calcification in Type 1 Diabetes study. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2010 Jun;25(6):1865-9. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfp740. Epub 2010 Jan 11.
• Background Maahs DM, Caramori L, Cherney DZ, Galecki AT, Gao C, Jalal D, Perkins BA, Pop-Busui R, Rossing P, Mauer M, Doria A; PERL Consortium. Uric acid lowering to prevent kidney function loss in diabetes: the preventing early renal function loss (PERL) allopurinol study. Curr Diab Rep. 2013 Aug;13(4):550-9. doi: 10.1007/s11892-013-0381-0.
• Ang L, Gunaratnam S, Huang Y, Dillon BR, Martin CL, Burant A, Reiss J, Blakely P, Vasbinder A, Zhao L, Mizokami-Stout K, Tang Y, Feldman EL, Doria A, Spino C, Banerjee M, Hayek SS, Pop-Busui R. Inflammatory Markers and Measures of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy in Type 1 Diabetes. J Am Heart Assoc. 2025 Jan 7;14(1):e036787. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.124.036787. Epub 2024 Dec 27.
• Keum Y, Caramori ML, Cherney DZ, Crandall JP, de Boer IH, Lingvay I, McGill JB, Polsky S, Pop-Busui R, Rossing P, Sigal RJ, Mauer M, Doria A. Albuminuria and Rapid Kidney Function Decline as Selection Criteria for Kidney Clinical Trials in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2025 Jan 1;20(1):62-71. doi: 10.2215/CJN.0000000000000567. Epub 2024 Nov 18.
• Doria A, Galecki AT, Spino C, Pop-Busui R, Cherney DZ, Lingvay I, Parsa A, Rossing P, Sigal RJ, Afkarian M, Aronson R, Caramori ML, Crandall JP, de Boer IH, Elliott TG, Goldfine AB, Haw JS, Hirsch IB, Karger AB, Maahs DM, McGill JB, Molitch ME, Perkins BA, Polsky S, Pragnell M, Robiner WN, Rosas SE, Senior P, Tuttle KR, Umpierrez GE, Wallia A, Weinstock RS, Wu C, Mauer M; PERL Study Group. Serum Urate Lowering with Allopurinol and Kidney Function in Type 1 Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2020 Jun 25;382(26):2493-2503. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1916624.

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Indications