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Genotype-stratified adjunctive dexamethasone for tuberculous meningitis in HIV-negative adults: a randomized controlled phase 3 trial

Donovan J, Duc Bang N, Dong HKT, Ho DTN, Nguyen TAT, Nguyen TTH, Lam HBN, Phung VKN et al.

Nature medicine, 2026

218 participants · 12 citations

Abstract

Adjunctive corticosteroids such as dexamethasone are recommended in tuberculous meningitis treatment, despite modest and heterogeneous survival benefit. Leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H) genotypes associate with distinct intracerebral inflammatory phenotypes and may determine corticosteroid response in tuberculous meningitis, with benefit observed in hyperinflammatory TT genotype but uncertain benefit in lower inflammation CC and CT genotypes. Here, in a phase 3, placebo-controlled trial of human immunodeficiency virus-negative Vietnamese adults with tuberculous meningitis, we randomized 613 LTA4H CC- and CT-genotype participants to 6-8 weeks of dexamethasone or placebo, aiming to show noninferiority of placebo (hazard ratio margin of 0.75) or its superiority. Given the significant survival benefit of dexamethasone previously seen in LTA4H TT-genotype individuals, TT-genotype participants all received open-label dexamethasone and were not randomized. A total of 89 TT-genotype participants received open-label dexamethasone. In CC- and CT-genotype participants, the primary endpoint of all-cause death or new neurological event over 12 months from randomization occurred in 108/305 (35.4%) given dexamethasone and 110/308 (35.7%) given placebo (hazard ratio of 0.99, 96% confidence interval (adjusted for multiple testing) 0.748-1.31). The number of observed primary endpoints (n = 218) exceeded the prespecified number (n = 184) used to calculate the trial's sample size and power.…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 218 participants or records.

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