AZD-4017

Currently, 2-3% of the population of the United Kingdom and United States of America receive glucocorticoid therapy. Significant adverse effects are not confined to chronic use; recurrent short-course administration is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The adverse metabolic features associated with glucocorticoid use include obesity, skeletal muscle myopathy, hypertension, insulin resistance and diabetes and are collectively termed 'iatrogenic Cushing's syndrome'. The efficacy of glucocorticoid therapy is not in doubt, but there are no interventions to reduce their metabolic consequences. Within metabolic tissues (liver, skeletal muscle, adipose), 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) regenerates active glucocorticoid and therefore is able to tightly control the availability of glucocorticoids to activate the glucocorticoid receptor. In preclinical studies, the investigators have shown that 11β-HSD1 is critical in regulating the development of the adverse features associated with circulating glucocorticoid excess, endorsing our observations in a patient with Cushing's disease, who was protected from a classical phenotype due to a functional deficit in 11β-HSD1.
This study is the first clinical evaluation of the impact of the selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitor, AZD4017, in healthy volunteers taking exogenous glucocorticoids (prednisolone). The investigators propose that in tissues expressing high levels of 11β-HSD1, prednisolone action will be amplified, driving adverse effects within these tissues and have hypothesized that AZD4017 in humans will reduce the adverse metabolic consequences of Prednisolone administration without compromise to its anti-inflammatory action.
Our specific research objectives are:
1. To demonstrate the beneficial effect of the selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitor, AZD4017, upon the prednisolone-induced deterioration in metabolic phenotype, including glucose disposal and endogenous glucose production rates.
2. To determine the impact of AZD4017 on the anti-inflammatory actions of Prednisolone.
3. To identify the tissue-specific (skeletal muscle, adipose) mechanisms underpinning the response to Prednisolone therapy administered in conjunction with AZD4017.
The investigators will perform a randomized, double-blind placebo controlled study to determine if co-administration of the selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitor, AZD4017, limits the adverse effects of short-course exogenous glucocorticoid administration. 32 healthy male volunteers will have detailed metabolic investigations including 2-step hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamps (with stable isotope measurements of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism), as well as assessment of skeletal muscle forearm glucose uptake. All volunteers will then be treated with Prednisolone (20mg daily) and randomized to the co-administration of placebo or AZD4017. After 1 week of therapy, all investigations will be repeated. Our hypothesis is that the adverse metabolic effects of Prednisolone will be reduced by co-administration of AZD4017.

Assessing the safety and effectiveness of a 11-βhydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 inhibitor (AZD4017), in a placebo controlled trial, in acute idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) IIH is a condition of young, overweight women with characteristic raised intracranial pressure (pressure around the brain) leading to papilloedema (swelling of the nerve supplying the eye), visual loss and headaches. Medical literature (Cochrane review) demonstrates there is little evidence for the treatments used for IIH. Weight control appears the most effective method of improving symptoms but weight loss is difficult to maintain. 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) is an enzyme which regulates local steroid levels and our previous research suggests it may influence the production of brain fluid(cerebrospinal fluid or CSF). 11β-HSD1 levels fall with weight loss and this is associated with with decreased intracranial pressure.
Our primary outcome is to determine whether AZD4017, an inhibitor of 11β-HSD1, will reduce the pressure in the brain and as a consequence improve IIH. Patients are eligible to enter the study if they are between 18-55 years old with acute (<6 months) IIH, signs of active disease (papilloedema and raised CSF pressure (>25 cmH20)), no other major illnesses and have no plans for pregnancy during the study period.
This is an MRC funded single centre, phase II, double-blinded, randomised control drug trial. It will be conducted at the University Hospital Birmingham and the University of Birmingham will act as Sponsor. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to AZD4017 or a placebo ('dummy' with no active drug) for 3 months with a follow up a month later. Investigations during the study will include bloods, urine samples, pregnancy tests, lumbar punctures, DXA scans and small fat/skin biopsies. Participants will benefit from increased monitoring and a potential improvement in their condition.
We hypothesise that specific inhibition of 11β-HSD1 will decrease intracranial pressure and consequently treat patients with IIH, thus opening a new and entirely novel therapeutic avenue.