NCT02122575

Effect of Fasting on the NLRP3 Inflammasome

Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of Fasting on the NLRP3 Inflammasome

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 23 (actual)
• Sponsor: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) · NIH
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years – 37 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Background: \- Restricting calories can help a person reduce risk factors for heart disease. Researchers have found that not eating or drinking anything but water for 24 hours prevents the activation of a component of the immune system, called the inflammasome. The inflammasome is associated with the development of diabetes and heart disease. Researchers want to learn more about the body s response to fasting. Objective: \- To explore the benefits of calorie restriction on heart health. Eligibility: \- Healthy adults ages 21 32 with a body mass index between 26 and 29. Design: * Participants will be screened with a medical history, physical exam and blood test. * Participants will not eat or drink after 10 p.m. before their first visit. * Participants have breakfast at the clinic. The breakfast will be about 500 calories. Then they will not eat or drink (except water) for 24 hours. * Participants will return to the clinic the next morning. They will have blood drawn. Then they will have breakfast. Blood will be drawn again at 1 hour and 3 hours after the meal. * Blood and urine tests at the end of the fast and following the meals will be done to confirm that participants have fasted for the full 24-hour period.

Detailed description

A caloric restricted diet has numerous health effects including the reduction in numerous cardiovascular disease risk factors. The cellular programs activated by caloric restriction are similarly turned on in preclinical studies in response to a 24-hour fast. We have found that a beneficial effect of a 24-hour fasting blunts the activation of a component of the immune system, termed the inflammasome, which is associated with the development of diabetes and atherosclerosis. We would like to study the inflammasome in human blood cells to evaluate whether the beneficial immune effects of fasting/caloric restriction are operational in humans. Blood samples to test the immune response will be collected in subjects after a fixed caloric meal and in response to a 24-hour fast (water intake will not be restricted). The objective of this pilot study is to identify if these immune adaptive pathways can be activated in human subjects as a possible readout to test whether this pathway could be investigated as a therapeutic target to blunt/negate the inflammation associated with nutrient-excess associated diseases such as diabetes and/or atherosclerosis.

Conditions

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Inflammatory Disease

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-04-21
• Primary completion: 2017-03-06
• Completion: 2021-01-27
• First posted: 2014-04-24
• Last updated: 2021-02-01

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States