Pro-inflammatory Cytokines in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (CYTOKINE-FSH) (CYTOKINE-FSH)

March 20, 2026 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

Pro-inflammatory Cytokines as Potential Therapeutic Target in Type 1 Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy: Pilot Study

The facial-glenohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 (DMFSH1) is characterized by a selective and asymmetrical involvement of the facial muscles, the shoulder girdle and the anterolateral lodge legs. Genetically, the disease is transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner and is caused by a pathogen contraction of repeat units (UR) say D4Z4 localized to the telomeric portion of chromosome 4qA. The loss of UR causes hypomethylation of DNA and chromatin relaxation of the region that lead to inappropriate expression of DUX4 retrogene highly toxic. The inappropriate expression induces a T cell reaction inflammatory response that participate and increase muscle damage. In favor of this hypothesis, several muscle MRI studies have shown that atrophy and fibro-adipose degeneration (hyper signal in T1) were preceded by the appearance of muscle inflammation (hyper signal T2STIR) confirmed on histologically and dysregulation of genes involved in adaptive and innate immunity. scientific hypothesis and potential benefits: the investigateur hypothesize that in patients of DMFSH1, the immune system cells may participate in the pathophysiology of the disease through changes in serum secretion of one or more cytokines and / or a modification of the response of inflammatory cells in some cell damage stimuli. Design: this is a single-center pilot study, interventional. In this study, the investigator will assay the serum cytokines and changes in peripheral blood cells of the expression of cytokines in response to some stimuli in 20 patients with Type 1 DMFSH genetically confirmed at an intermediate stage of clinical disease (kept walking, but at least one muscle of lower limbs reached) and compare with controls from the CYTOKINAGE study. The investigator will also carry patients clinical testing (MMT sum score) and functional (6minute test march MFM) and a MRI not injected whole body (T1 sequences + and T2STIR) to study the relationship between these parameters and secretion cytokines or serum in response to certain stimuli Main objective: to compare serum levels of IL-6 in patients with DMFSH and controls.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
30

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Nice, France
        • Chu De Nice

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • male or female age 18 to 75
  • suffering from genetically confirmed FSHD1 (<11 D4Z4 repeat units on permissive chromosome 4 allele)
  • ambulant or walking with assistance
  • Manual Muscle Testing ≥4 for 1 of lower limb muscles

Exclusion Criteria:

  • pregnancy or breast feeding
  • stay in tropical/subtropical country within 3 months
  • physical exercice within 10 hours
  • specific diet (e.g. hypocaloric or cholesterol lowering diet)
  • regular alcohol consumption; drug consumption within 3 months
  • immunosuppressive or immonumodulating drug within 2 weeks or for more than 3 months withing last 6 months
  • vaccination, blood transfusion of immunoglobulin treatment within 3 months
  • infection within 3 weeks; HIV, HBV, HCV seropositivity
  • chronic inflammatory and/or autoimmune or allergic disease from the gut (Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis), skin (psoriasis, atopic dermatitis), joints (rhumatoid arthritis), nervous system (multiple sclerosis), diabetes type I and II
  • neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases)
  • diagnosed cancer not under remission for at least 5 years
  • participation in the last 3 months in a research clinical trial with exposure to a pharmaceutical product or a medical device
  • muscular MRI contraindication

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
Adult ambulant patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 (FSHD1)
Other: cytokines dosage
Mesure of cytokines concentration in serum
Other Names:
  • biological analysis
Procedure: test of walk
patient must walk during 6 minutes on a flat surface
Procedure: Manual muscular test
test performed to evaluate the patient muscular weakness
Procedure: Motrice fonction mesurement
scale allowing the evaluation of patient posture and upper body movements

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of serum IL-6 levels between FSHD1 patients and control subjects (from other previous studies) comparable in terms of age and sex
Time Frame: 21 months
Serum IL-6 levels will be measured using v-plex technology (MSD) in FSHD1 patients and compared with results obtained in paired control subjects from 2 cohorts (NCT00998231 and Cytokinage study NCT02660723)
21 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of serum levels of 28 oher pro-inflammatory cytokines between FSHD1 patients and control subjects
Time Frame: 21 months
Serum levels of 28 other cytokines will be measured using v-plex technology (MSD) in FSHD1 patients and compared with results obtained in paired control subjects
21 months
Comparison of cytokines produced upon in vitro stimulation of blood cells in FSHD1 patients and control subjects
Time Frame: 21 months
Cytokine production will be induced in blood cells by non-specific stimulation with LPS, ATP+LPS-EB or poly (I:C) in FSHD1 patients and compared with results obtained in control subjects
21 months
Evaluation of potential correlations between cytokines levels (either in the serum or produced upon in vitro stimulation) and clinical severity in FSHD1 patients
Time Frame: 21 months
Clinical severity and muscle impairment will be evaluated using standardized clinical scales (Manual Muscle Testing, Motor Function Measure-32, 6-minute walk test, age-corrected Clinical Severity Score)
21 months
Evaluation of potential correlations between cytokines levels (either in the serum or produced upon in vitro stimulation) and muscle MRI caracteristics in FSHD1 patients
Time Frame: 21 months
Whole body MRI will be recorded (T1 and T2STIR sequences) in order to evaluate muscle oedema, inflammation and degeneration
21 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 30, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
May 18, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
May 18, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 31, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 31, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
March 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 20, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 16-AOI-13

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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