# Methods to Improve Clinical Trials for A-T

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $244,900

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by cerebellar
degeneration, immunodeficiency, pulmonary disease and cancer susceptibility. A-T is complex
and highly variable in terms of presentation and severity, but the factors responsible for its
variability are not completely understood. In 1995, an A-T Clinical Center was established at
Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH); its goal is to collect natural history data and provide multi-
disciplinary care for people with A-T. The long term goals of this proposal are to optimize
clinical trials for A-T by creating a system for classifying A-T patients into severity groups and
creating a validated functional rating scale for A-T. This work will leverage the data and resources
of the A-T Clinical Center. This proposal’s objectives are to better define A-T disease severity
and develop a detailed and definitive functional rating scale for activities of daily living.
Our central hypotheses are that: a. the onset and frequency of A-T’s clinical features cluster in
a way that allows assignment of patients into severity groups (e.g. severe, moderate, or mild) and
b. an A-T specific functional rating scale will capture changes in disease severity that are
meaningful to patients with A-T.
These hypotheses will be tested through the following Specific Aims: 1. Stratification of A-T
Severity using Genotypic, Phenotypic and Laboratory markers. There is a need to better
define severity groups in A-T beyond the current state of the art. Stratification of A-T disease
severity will utilize the large and diverse JHH cohort of patients with A-T and will be achieved
through the identification of a variety of markers that predict or define disease severity. 2.
Development of a Validated Functional Rating Scale for A-T. A validated functional rating
scale for A-T does not exist. With input from the A-T Children’s Project Family Advisory
Council and a World Health Organization (WHO) consultant, our scale will integrate the
functional scale framework developed by the WHO and will be validated against the A-TNEST
(an A-T-specific neurologic scale), clinical exams and the PEDS-QL™.
The expected outcomes of this project are a quantitative model that will provide a simple and
objective way to determine disease severity in A-T, and a scale that will rate meaningful
changes in functional severity. These outcomes will directly impact sponsors and investigators
wishing to gauge the efficacy of treatment interventions in clinical trials for this complex and
highly variable disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10045957
- **Project number:** 1R21TR003534-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MAUREEN A LEFTON-GREIF
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $244,900
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-25 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10045957

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10045957, Methods to Improve Clinical Trials for A-T (1R21TR003534-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10045957. Licensed CC0.

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