Safety and Efficacy of ADSTEM Inj. in Patients With Moderately Subacute and Chronic Atopic Dermatitis

Phase I Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerance, and Exploratory Efficacy of ADSTEM Inj. in Patients With Moderate to Severe, Subacute and Chronic Atopic Dermatitis

This study aims to evaluate safety, tolerance, and efficacy in subjects with over moderately subacute and chronic atopic dermatitis after an intravenous injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells. The study is composed of two steps. Step 1 is to determine clinically proper dose capacity of the ADSTEM Inj. and step 2 is to evaluate exploratory efficacy of the ADSTEM Inj. at the proper dose.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a type of inflammation of the skin. It results in itchy, swollen, red, and cracked skin. The symptoms typically start in childhood with changing severity over the years. The pathogenesis of AD is characterized by excessive type 2 helper T cell mediated inflammatory responses, resulting in B lymphocyte mediated increase in serum level of immunoglobulin E (IgE). Subsequent degranulation of mast cells by IgE releases various inflammatory mediators, which recruit the lymphocytes and eosinophils into the lesion.

Current clinical management of AD includes topical corticosteroids and systemic immunosuppressants. However, these drugs have been reported to carry the risk of side-effects and severe.

Several recent studies including ours have demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could suppress allergic responses in AD. MSCs have been known to interact with cell types of both innate and adaptive immune systems, which results in the suppressive effect on proliferation, differentiation, and activation of immune cells including T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells. Indeed, a number of studies have reported that the immunomodulatory ability of MSCs can be usefully applied for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammation-related diseases such as asthma, rhinitis, and dermatitis. Therefore, MSCs has possibility as a new drug for AD.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Of either gender, aged ≥19 and ≤70 years
• Atopic dermatitis subjects who are coincident with Hanifin and Rajka diagnosis criteria
• Subacute and chronic atopic subjects who have atopic dermatitis symptoms continually at least 6 months
• Subjects with over moderate atopic dermatitis (SCORAD score > 20)
• Subjects who understand and voluntarily sign an informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have systemic infection
• Subjects who have human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV)
• Subjects who need to take the medicine which is prohibited during this study
• Subjects who have asthma
• Subjects who can not stop treatment with topical steroids (group 1~5), oral antibiotics, whole body photochemotherapy, immunosuppressive drug within 4 weeks before the treatment visit
• Pregnant, breast-feeding women or women who plan to become pregnant during this study (Females of childbearing potential must have a negative urine pregnancy test)
• Subjects who currently participate in other clinical trial or participated in other clinical trial within 30 days
• Subjects who had a serious adverse events during stem cell therapy
• Subjects who had a hypersensitivity to antibiotics or antimycotics
• Subjects who creatinine value is more than two times of the upper limit of the normal range at screening test
• Subjects who aspartate transaminase/alkaline transaminase (AST/ALT) value is more than three times of the upper limit of the normal range at screening test
• Subjects who have any other condition which the investigator judges would make patients unsuitable for study participation