Impact of Dietary Intervention on Tumor Immunity: the DigesT Trial (DIgesT)
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03454282 |
Recruitment Status : Unknown
Verified February 2019 by Filippo de Braud, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano.
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
First Posted : March 5, 2018
Last Update Posted : February 26, 2019
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
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Breast Cancer Melanoma, Malignant | Other: FMD | Not Applicable |
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Estimated Enrollment : | 100 participants |
Allocation: | N/A |
Intervention Model: | Single Group Assignment |
Intervention Model Description: | Clinical trials with a single arm and three cohorts of patients |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Impact of Dietary Intervention on Tumor Immunity: the DigesT Trial. |
Actual Study Start Date : | July 1, 2018 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date : | May 30, 2020 |
Estimated Study Completion Date : | December 31, 2020 |
Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Experimental: FMD Arm
The intervention consists in 5-day FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet) to be followed for one cycle (Cohorts A and B) or for 4 consecutive every-four week cycles postoperatively.
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Other: FMD
The Fasting Mimicking Diet (or FMD) consists in a 5-day plant-based, low-calorie (about 600 Kcal on day 1, followed by about 300 KCal/day on days 2 to 5), low-carbohydrate low-protein diet
Other Name: Fasting Mimicking Diet |
- Absolute and relative changes in PBMCs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Absolute and relative changes in PBMCs by 10-color cytofluorimetry before and after the FMD.
- Phenotypic modifications in PBMCs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Phenotypic modifications in PBMCs, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
- Functional modifications in PBMCs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Functional modifications in PBMCs, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
- Functional modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Functional modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
- Phenotypic modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Phenotypic modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
- Functional modifications of immune cell population in LNs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Functional modifications of immune cell populations in LNs, as detected by single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF).
- mRNA profiling in tumor cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Gene expression profiling (through mRNA quantification) in tumor cells (Cohort A).
- mRNA profiling in immune cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Gene expression profiling (through mRNA quantification) in PBMCs and immune cell populations inside lymph nodes (Cohort B).
- miRNA profiling in tumor cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]miRNA profiling in tumor cells (Cohort A)
- miRNA profiling in immune cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]miRNA profiling in PBMCs and immune cell populations inside lymph nodes (Cohort B).
- Changes in the expression of metabolic genes in PBMCs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in the expression of selected metabolic genes (including hexokinase 1, phosphofructokinase 1, pyruvate kinase 2) through mRNA quantification in PBMCs before and after the FMD.
- FMD-induced changes in blood metabolic parameters [ Time Frame: 3 years ]FMD-induced changes in blood (glucose, triglycerides, fatty acids, cholesterol, amino acids)
- FMD-induced changes in urine metabolites [ Time Frame: 3 years ]FMD-induced changes in urine metabolites (ketone bodies)
- FMD-induced changes in serum growth factors. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]FMD-induced changes in serum growth factors.
- Qualitative changes in tumor-infiltrating immune cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Qualitative changes in the type of tumor-infiltrating immune cell populations before and after the diet in breast cancer patients undergoing curative surgery (Cohort A).
- Quantitative changes in tumor-infiltrating immune cells [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Quantitative changes in the number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, machrophages, MDSCs before and after the diet in breast cancer patients undergoing curative surgery (Cohort A).
- Changes in tumor proliferation [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in tumor proliferation index (Ki67) IHC in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
- Changes in tumor cell apoptosis [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in tumor cell apoptosis (caspase 3 by IHC) in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
- Changes in tumor metabolic pathways [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in tumor levels of glycolytic enzymes by IHC (Glut1, HK1, PFK1/2, PK2) in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
- Changes in expression of hormone receptors and HER2 [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in expression of estrogen and/progesterone receptor and HER2 oncoprotein by IHC in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
- Qualitative changes in immune cell suspensions from lymph nodes [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in the type of immune cells (CD8+ T-lymhocytes, CD 4+ lymphocytes, Treg) found in lymph node suspensions of melanoma patients undergoing one FMD cycle before lymph node dissection (Cohort B).
- Quantitative changes in immune cell suspensions from lymph nodes [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Quantitative changes in the absolute and relative amount of immune cell populations in lymph node suspensions of melanoma patients undergoing one FMD cycle before lymph node dissection (Cohort B).
- Changes in DNA methylomic profiles in lymph node specimens [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in genome-wide DNA methylomic profiles with high-density arrays in lymph node specimens from patients undergoing the FMD before surgery (Cohorts A and B).
- Changes in DNA methylomic profiles in tumor specimens [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in genome-wide DNA methylomic profiles with high-density arrays in tumor specimens from patients undergoing the FMD before surgery (Cohorts A and B).
- Changes in gut microbiota composition. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Changes in type of gut bacteria populations, as detected through 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing
- Short-term modification of blood nutritional parameters. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Short-term (before vs after each FMD cycle) modification of blood nutritional parameters (levels of plasma cholesterol, prealbumin, transferrin, total lymphocytes)
- Long-term modification of blood nutritional parameters. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Long-term (along subsequent FMD cycles) modification of blood nutritional parameters (levels of plasma cholesterol, realbumin, transferrin, total lymphocytes)
- Short-term and long-term modification of BMI [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Short-term and long-term modification of BMI
- FMD-induced changes in white blood cell populations [ Time Frame: 3 years ]FMD-induced changes in neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes
- FMD-induced changes in hemoglobin [ Time Frame: 3 years ]FMD-induced changes in hemoglobin
- Assessment of patient compliance to the FMD. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Assessment of patient compliance to the FMD, as measured by quantifying the number of major and minor deviations of patients' diet relative to the prescribed FMD scheme
- Assessment of FMD tolerability. [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Assessment of FMD tolerability, as defined by the occurrence of G3-G4 adverse events, or serious adverse events (SAEs)
- Correlation between FMD-induced changes in serum metabolites and changes in PBMCs [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Correlation between FMD-induced changes in serum metabolites and changes in PBMCs, their activation status, and characteristics of tumor cell and immune infiltrate.
- Correlation between FMD-induced metabolic and immunological changes [ Time Frame: 3 years ]Correlation between FMD-induced metabolic and immunological changes with patient diet evaluated at study enrollment through food diaries.

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years to 75 Years (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age ≥ 18 and ≤ 75 years.
- Evidence of a personally signed and dated informed consent document (ICD) indicating that the patient has been informed of all pertinent aspects of the study before enrollment and FMD prescription.
- Willingness and ability to comply with the FMD protocol, the scheduled visits, treatment plans, laboratory tests and other procedures.
- Histologically confirmed diagnosis of invasive breast cancer candidate to curative surgery (Cohort A), or resected malignant melanoma requiring dissection of the regional lymph node basin for sentinel lymph node involvement (Cohort B), or malignant melanoma treated with curative surgery (including, in case, lymph node removal and lymph node dissection) (Cohort C). For breast cancer patients, any biological subgroup (including estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-positive, triple-negative breast cancer) will be admitted; HER2-positive tumors will be defined on the basis of an IHC score of 3, or a score of 2 with ISH evaluation indicative of gene amplification.
- Availability of archival FFPE tissue blocks of primary breast cancer (Cohort A) or melanoma (Cohort B, Cohort C).
- Presence of an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1.
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Presence of adequate bone marrow and organ function as defined by the following laboratory values:
- ANC ≥ 1.5 x 109/l
- platelets ≥ 100 x 109/l
- hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dl
- calcium (corrected for serum albumin) within normal limits or ≤ grade 1 according to NCI-CTCAE version 4.03 if not clinically significant
- potassium within the normal limits, or corrected with supplements
- creatinine < 1.5 ULN
- blood uric acid < 10 mg/dl
- ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 x ULN
- total bilirubin < ULN except for patients with Gilbert syndrome who may only be included in the total bilirubin is < 3.0 x ULN or direct bilirubin < 1.5 x ULN
- Albumin > 3 g/dL
- Fasting glucose ≤ 200 mg/dl.
- Total Cholesterol ≤ 300 mg/dl.
- Triglycerides ≤ 300 mg/dl.
- Female patients of childbearing potential must agree to sexual abstinence or to use two highly effective method of contraception throughout the study and for at least 30 days after the end of the FMD. Abstinence is only acceptable if it is in line with the preferred and usual lifestyle of the patient. Examples of contraceptive methods with a failure rate of < 1% per year include tubal ligation, male sterilization, hormonal implants, established, proper use of combined oral or injected hormonal contraceptives, and certain intrauterine devices. Alternatively, two methods (e.g., two barrier methods such as a condom and a cervical cap) may be combined to achieve a failure rate of < 1% per year. Barrier methods must always be supplemented with the use of a spermicide. A patient is of childbearing potential if, in the opinion of the Investigator, she is biologically capable of having children and is sexually active.
Female patients are not of childbearing potential if they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Have undergone a documented hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy
- Have medically confirmed ovarian failure
- Achieved post-menopausal status, defined as: (≥ 12 months of non-therapy-induced amenorrhea) or surgically sterile (absence of ovaries) and have a serum FSH level within the laboratory's reference range for postmenopausal females.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Prior systemic treatment for breast cancer or melanoma.
- Diagnosis of a concurrent malignancy other than breast cancer or melanoma, or malignancy other than breast cancer or melanoma diagnosed within 5 years of treatment enrollment, with the exception of adequately treated, basal or squamous cell carcinoma, non-melanomatous skin cancer or curatively resected cervical cancer.
- Body Mass Index (BMI) < 20 Kg/m2.
- Anamnesis of alcohol abuse.
- Unintentional weight loss ≥ 5% in the last three months, unless the patient has a BMI > 25 Kg/m2 at study enrollment. Intentional weight loss is permitted if < 10% in the last three months and patient BMI is > 22 kg/m2.
- Severe heart, liver, pulmonary, kidney comorbidities.
- Current status of pregnancy or lactation, where pregnancy is defined as the state of a female after conception and until the termination of gestation, confirmed by a positive hCG laboratory test (> 5 mIU/mL).
- Active HBV or HCV infection.
- Severe infections within 4 weeks prior to FMD initiation, including, but not limited to, hospitalization for complications of infection, bacteremia, or severe pneumonia.
- Active autoimmune diseases that require systemic treatment (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs).
- History of recent diagnosis of hypothyroidism for which replacement therapy (eg., thyroxine) and blood endocrine profile are not stabilized yet.
- Established diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type I or diabetes mellitus type II that requires pharmacological treatment (including, but not limited to, insulin, insulin secretagogues and metformin).
- Severe impairment of the gastrointestinal (GI) function or GI disease that may alter the digestion and absorption of nutrients during the re-feeding phase (e.g. active ulcerative diseases of the stomach or intestine, uncontrolled nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malabsorption syndrome, or small bowel resection).
- Known history of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection.
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Clinically significant heart disease and/or recent cardiac events including:
- history of angina pectoris, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), symptomatic pericarditis, or myocardial infarction within 12 months prior to the start of study treatment;
- history of documented congestive heart failure (NYHA III-IV);
- documented cardiomyopathy.
- History of cardiac arythmias, (e.g. ventricular tachycardia, chronic atrial fibrillation), complete left bundle branch block, high grade AV block (e.g. bifascicular block, Mobitz type II and third degree AV block), supraventricular, nodal arrhythmias, or conduction abnormality in the previous 12 months.
- Uncontrolled hypertension defined by a Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) ≥ 160 mmHg and/or Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) ≥ 100 mmHg, with or without anti-hypertensive medication.
- Known reduction of left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to less than 50%, as assessed by multigated radionuclide scintigraphic scan (MUGA) or echocardiography.
- Previous episodes of symptomatic hypotension causing unconsciousness.
- Baseline fasting plasma glucose ≤ 65 mg/dl.
- Ongoing therapy with systemic corticosteroids, or systemic corticosteroid therapy ≤ 2 weeks before study enrollment, or who have not recovered from side effects of such treatment. The following uses of corticosteroids are permitted: topical applications (e.g. for rash), inhaled sprays (e.g. for obstructive airways diseases), eye drops.
- Any serious medical or psychiatric illness that in the assessment of the investigator renders the patient not suitable for participation in this clinical study.

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT03454282
Contact: Filippo De Braud, Professor | 0039 02/23902148 | filippo.debraud@istitutotumori.mi.it | |
Contact: Claudio Vernieri, MD | 0039 02/23903066 | claudio.vernieri@istitutotumori.mi.it |
Italy | |
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori | Recruiting |
Milan, Italy, 20133 | |
Contact: Claudio Vernieri, M.D., Ph.D. +39 02 23903066 claudio.vernieri@istitutotumori.mi.it |
Principal Investigator: | Filippo De Braud, Professor | Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy |
Documents provided by Filippo de Braud, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano:
Responsible Party: | Filippo de Braud, Professor, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT03454282 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
INT157/17 B42F17000260006 ( Other Grant/Funding Number: Italian Minister of Health ) |
First Posted: | March 5, 2018 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | February 26, 2019 |
Last Verified: | February 2019 |
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement: | |
Plan to Share IPD: | No |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: | No |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: | No |
Breast Cancer Malignant Melanoma Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) |
Tumor Immunity Metabolic Effects Immunological Effects |
Melanoma Neuroendocrine Tumors Neuroectodermal Tumors Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal |
Neoplasms by Histologic Type Neoplasms Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue Nevi and Melanomas |