A Randomized, Double Blind, Phase I/II Trial of Low-Dose Interlekin-2 Immunotherapy in Established Type 1 Diabetes

Randomized, controlled, double-blinded, multicenter, phase I/II clinical trial to evaluate the safety of low-dose IL-2 and determine whether low-dose IL-2 therapy for one year, can prevent further loss of beta-cell function in patients with established T1D, (primary outcome). The study will carefully examine various effects of low-dose IL-2 on the immune system in patients with T1D, including effects on Treg and other cell subsets, and disease-specific autoimmune responses.

Patients will be treated with ILT-101 or placebo. ILT-101 will be given at doses of 0.5 million IU (body surface area <2 m2) or 1 million IU (body surface area >2 m2), via subcutaneous (s.c.) injections. Patients will receive a course of 5 daily injections (days 1-5. Starting on day 15, patients will receive an s.c. injection (same dose) every 15 days for 1 year. Thus, patients will receive 29 injections during the first year of treatment. At the end of the first year, approximately half of those randomized to ILT-101 will continue receiving treatment every 15 days, until the end of the second year (23 doses). The other half will stop therapy and will be switched to a placebo.

A group of patients will be randomly assigned to a placebo for the duration of the study. Patients to be included in this study are those diagnosed with T1D who would have had T1D from 4 months to 1 year at the time of randomization, who have a current or past demonstration of autoimmunity (using autoantibodies), and maintain preserved β-cell function, defined as an MMTT stimulated C-peptide >0.2 nmol/L. This population is chosen because it will extend the scope of therapy beyond the immediate time following diagnosis when most previous studies of immunotherapy in T1D have been conducted. This trial can further impact the field if a therapeutic benefit is shown when the disease is more established.