Treat_CCM: Propranolol in Familial Cerebral Cavernous Malformation

Summary

Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM) is a cerebrovascular disease which can be either congenital in origin or sporadic and is characterized by the presence of isolated or multiple CCM lesions, causing recurrent headache, seizures, focal neurological deficits and hemorrhages. Inasmuch, to date, the only curative treatment available is limited to surgical lesion eradication or stereotactic radiosurgery. It is therefore necessary to find an effective medical treatment that may limit disease progression and decrease the burden of adverse clinical events. The non-selective betablocker propranolol has been found to be effective in the treatment of infantile cutaneous hemangioma, and anecdotal reports have been published on its efficacy in CCM. The safety profile of propranolol has been documented in millions of patients of all ages. The primary objective of this exploratory trial is to test whether a chronic treatment with propranolol will reduce the burden of cerebrovascular lesions, of clinical events and symptoms in patients with familial CCM.

Timeline

Start

2018-04-11

Primary completion

2021-10-31

Completion

2021-12-31

Publications

• Background Lampugnani MG, Malinverno M, Dejana E, Rudini N. Endothelial cell disease: emerging knowledge from cerebral cavernous malformations. Curr Opin Hematol. 2017 May;24(3):256-264. doi: 10.1097/MOH.0000000000000338.
• Background Bravi L, Malinverno M, Pisati F, Rudini N, Cuttano R, Pallini R, Martini M, Larocca LM, Locatelli M, Levi V, Bertani GA, Dejana E, Lampugnani MG. Endothelial Cells Lining Sporadic Cerebral Cavernous Malformation Cavernomas Undergo Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition. Stroke. 2016 Mar;47(3):886-90. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.011867. Epub 2016 Feb 2.
• Background Cuttano R, Rudini N, Bravi L, Corada M, Giampietro C, Papa E, Morini MF, Maddaluno L, Baeyens N, Adams RH, Jain MK, Owens GK, Schwartz M, Lampugnani MG, Dejana E. KLF4 is a key determinant in the development and progression of cerebral cavernous malformations. EMBO Mol Med. 2016 Jan 1;8(1):6-24. doi: 10.15252/emmm.201505433.
• Background Marchi S, Corricelli M, Trapani E, Bravi L, Pittaro A, Delle Monache S, Ferroni L, Patergnani S, Missiroli S, Goitre L, Trabalzini L, Rimessi A, Giorgi C, Zavan B, Cassoni P, Dejana E, Retta SF, Pinton P. Defective autophagy is a key feature of cerebral cavernous malformations. EMBO Mol Med. 2015 Nov;7(11):1403-17. doi: 10.15252/emmm.201505316.
• Background Maddaluno L, Rudini N, Cuttano R, Bravi L, Giampietro C, Corada M, Ferrarini L, Orsenigo F, Papa E, Boulday G, Tournier-Lasserve E, Chapon F, Richichi C, Retta SF, Lampugnani MG, Dejana E. EndMT contributes to the onset and progression of cerebral cavernous malformations. Nature. 2013 Jun 27;498(7455):492-6. doi: 10.1038/nature12207. Epub 2013 Jun 9.
• Background Boulday G, Rudini N, Maddaluno L, Blecon A, Arnould M, Gaudric A, Chapon F, Adams RH, Dejana E, Tournier-Lasserve E. Developmental timing of CCM2 loss influences cerebral cavernous malformations in mice. J Exp Med. 2011 Aug 29;208(9):1835-47. doi: 10.1084/jem.20110571. Epub 2011 Aug 22.
• Background Bravi L, Rudini N, Cuttano R, Giampietro C, Maddaluno L, Ferrarini L, Adams RH, Corada M, Boulday G, Tournier-Lasserve E, Dejana E, Lampugnani MG. Sulindac metabolites decrease cerebrovascular malformations in CCM3-knockout mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Jul 7;112(27):8421-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1501352112. Epub 2015 Jun 24.
• Background Gore AV, Lampugnani MG, Dye L, Dejana E, Weinstein BM. Combinatorial interaction between CCM pathway genes precipitates hemorrhagic stroke. Dis Model Mech. 2008 Nov-Dec;1(4-5):275-81. doi: 10.1242/dmm.000513. Epub 2008 Oct 28.
• Yan C, Ye Y, Liu N, Zhang D, Du W, Li Y, Li G, Li C, Li J, Ma S, Dai Z, Xiong Z, Wang Y, Men C, Bi R, Duan Q, Xu W, Husilengtu, Cao Y, Du J, Shi C. Metformin limits cerebral cavernous malformation development by targeting KLF4-mediated mitochondrial damage. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2025 Sep 1;777:152241. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.152241. Epub 2025 Jun 24.
• Meessen JMTA, Abete-Fornara G, Zarino B, Castori M, Tassi L, Carriero MR, D'Alessandris QG, Al-Shahi Salman R, Blanda A, Nicolis EB, Novelli D, Caruana M, Vasami A, Lanfranconi S, Latini R. Patient-reported outcome measures in patients with familial cerebral cavernous malformations: results from the Treat_CCM trial. Front Neurol. 2024 Feb 14;15:1338941. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1338941. eCollection 2024.
• Lanfranconi S, Scola E, Meessen JMTA, Pallini R, Bertani GA, Al-Shahi Salman R, Dejana E, Latini R; Treat_CCM Investigators. Safety and efficacy of propranolol for treatment of familial cerebral cavernous malformations (Treat_CCM): a randomised, open-label, blinded-endpoint, phase 2 pilot trial. Lancet Neurol. 2023 Jan;22(1):35-44. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00409-4. Epub 2022 Nov 17.
• Lanfranconi S, Scola E, Bertani GA, Zarino B, Pallini R, d'Alessandris G, Mazzon E, Marino S, Carriero MR, Scelzo E, Farago G, Castori M, Fusco C, Petracca A, d'Agruma L, Tassi L, d'Orio P, Lampugnani MG, Nicolis EB, Vasami A, Novelli D, Torri V, Meessen JMTA, Al-Shahi Salman R, Dejana E, Latini R; Treat-CCM Investigators. Propranolol for familial cerebral cavernous malformation (Treat_CCM): study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial. Trials. 2020 May 12;21(1):401. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-4202-x.

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