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Pilot Study of a Metabolic Nutritional Therapy for the Management of Primary Brain Tumors

Study Purpose

This study will look at the effects, good and/or bad, of treating primary brain cancers with diet therapy using an energy restricted ketogenic diet (ERKD) that uses food. An energy restricted ketogenic diet is a diet designed to keep blood sugars in the low range of normal while at the same time increasing the blood concentration of metabolic break down products called ketones. This diet is currently used to treat children with uncontrollable seizures. This diet is well tolerated by the children with minimal side effects reported after using the diet for years.

  • - The main purpose of this study is to find out whether or not the energy restricted ketogenic diet will help patients with primary brain cancer by either decreasing the size of the cancer or by keeping the cancer from growing.
  • - Another reason for doing this study is to learn about the side effects associated with the energy restricted ketogenic diet in patients with primary brain cancer.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms

No
Study Type

An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes.


An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.


Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.

Interventional
Eligible Ages 18 Years - 90 Years
Gender All
More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

  • -

    Inclusion Criteria:

    - Adult subjects over age 18 with biopsy proven GBM diagnosis.
  • - Measurable disease after standard therapies.
  • - Eastern Cancer Oncology Group performance status < or =2; and.
  • - Life expectancy >3 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • - Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus that is being treated by medication.
  • - Concomitant use of glucocorticosteroids.
  • - Cholecystectomy within 1 year prior to study entry.
  • - Inability to adhere to or tolerate dietary protocol.
  • - Active malignancy other than primary brain tumor requiring therapy.
  • - Participation in an investigational study within 2 weeks prior to study entry; Major co-morbidities such as liver, kidney or heart failure that in the judgment of the investigators would disqualify the subject from the trial.
  • - Pregnancy.
- Inability to give informed consent

Trial Details

Trial ID:

This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.

NCT01535911
Phase

Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans.

Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data.

Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs.

Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.

N/A
Lead Sponsor

The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.

Michigan State University
Principal Investigator

The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.

Kenneth Schwartz, MD
Principal Investigator Affiliation Michigan State University
Agency Class

Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.

Other
Overall Status Active, not recruiting
Countries United States
Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.

Glioblastoma
Additional Details

Summary: The current standard of care for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common primary brain tumor in adults, includes surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy. Survival rarely exceeds 18 months. The investigators propose to test the hypothesis that brain tumor cells are unable to utilize ketones as a source of energy when deprived of glucose, due to mitochondrial dysfunction, whereas normal glia and neurons can survive this metabolic stress. A nutritionally adequate but energy restricted, ketogenic diet (ERKD) to deprive brain tumors of energy and resulting in death of glioma cells is promising. ERKD-based therapy to manage brain cancer is both biologically plausible and supported by data in animal models. A multidisciplinary team of oncologists, registered dietitians, and physiologists will implement an ERKD therapy in newly diagnosed GBM subjects. After initial maximal tumor excision, ERKD therapy will be initiated for subjects during a one week inpatient admission to Sparrow Hospital or as a local outpatient and supervised by registered dietitians experienced in implementing this therapy.The ERKD will continue as adjunctive therapy along with radiation therapy and standard of care chemotherapy. The supervised ERKD will continue for an additional 6 weeks after completion of radiation therapy along with the standard of care chemotherapy. The objective of this trial is to determine whether the ERKD decreases tumor size or results in no recurrence in individuals with GBM as measured by serial MRI imaging. Enzymes and signaling pathways that regulate metabolism and cell growth will be assessed in initial and post-ERKD tumors using standard biochemical approaches.

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Experimental: Obsrvational study adding ketogenic diet to standard initial treatment of glioblastom multiforme

Add ketogenic diet to standard tx of glioblastoma multiforme. After patients have recovered from surgical intervention patients are given a ketogenic diet along with standard of care, radiation and temozolomide treatments. The ketogenic diet is modified by dietitians based on twice daily measurements of blood ketone levels.

Interventions

Other: - Energy restricted Ketogenic Diet (ERKD) (Metabolic Nutritional Therapy)

Adult subjects with newly diagnosed glioblastoma will be referred to the study. Residual tumor size will be determined using MRI imaging. Subjects will be placed on ERKD while they are being treated with radiation therapy and standard of care chemotherapy. After completion of radiation therapy, tumor size will be determined using MRI. If the tumor has decreased in size or remained the same (stable disease), the subjects will be continued on the ERKD for an additional 6 weeks. Total calories consumed by each subject will be targeted to 20 to 25 kcal/kg/day. If the tumor has decreased in size or the size has remained the same then subjects will be continued on the ERKD for as additional 6 weeks and a repeat MRI will be obtained.

Contact a Trial Team

If you are interested in learning more about this trial, find the trial site nearest to your location and contact the site coordinator via email or phone. We also strongly recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider about the trials that may interest you and refer to our terms of service below.

East Lansing, Michigan

Status

Address

Michigan State University/Sparrow Hospital

East Lansing, Michigan, 48824