Study of Triheptanoin for Treatment of Long-Chain Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorder (Triheptanoin)

March 21, 2017 updated by: Melanie B Gillingham, Oregon Health and Science University

Phase 2 Study of Triheptanoin for Treatment of Long-Chain Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders

Humans eat long-chain fat in their diet and use it for energy during exercise and during periods of fasting. Patients with long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders cannot use dietary fat for energy. They sometimes develop muscle breakdown, and severe pain with exercise or illness. They can also develop a heart that does not function properly. These patients are tired and expend less energy than people who do not have a long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorder. However, they can use a supplement oil called medium chain triglyceride or MCT. This study will determine if a new experimental oil called Triheptanoin can decrease the muscle pain and increase the heart function and the amount of energy in patients with long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders. Funding source - FDA's OOPD

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Recruitment: Patients with a long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorder will be recruited through our clinic, past research participants, a patient support website, and recruitment letters mailed to physicians around the US. We will enroll 16 subjects at OHSU and 16 subjects at the University of Pittsburgh, age 7 to 40, with a disorder in fatty acid oxidation.

Procedures: Subjects will be admitted to the clinical research center for 4 days. They will collect all their urine for 24 hours. Heart function will be measured using ultrasound an electrocardiogram (ECG). The motion of the heart will be measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For this test, the patient lies in the magnetic field of the MRI machine in the Advanced Imaging Resource Center (AIRC) for about 45 minutes. The amount of muscle and fat in the whole body and inside the liver and muscle will be measured by MRS and by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Subjects will walk on a treadmill for about 45 minutes. The amount of Calories they use, their heart rate, and if they burn fat or carbohydrates will be measured. Blood samples will be collected before and after exercise. A meal test will be used to determine how much fat they burn. The subjects will drink a liquid breakfast with a stable isotope labeled fat in the breakfast. Breath and blood samples will be collected before and after the meal. The amount Calories burned by each subject will be measured when they are at rest on a bed by indirect calorimetry. The amount of Calories burned by subjects when they are doing their routine daily activities will be measured at home by doubly labeled water. All of these tests will be done at baseline. Then, subjects will be randomly assigned to consume MCT (current standard of care) or triheptanoin at 20% of their estimated Calorie needs for 4 months. The subject and/or the parent will be taught how to use the supplement oil in their diet for cooking and baking. The subject will be sent home and the oil will be shipped to their home. The study coordinator will call the subject or subject's guardian each week to monitor the subject's diet, potential side effects and assist with diet planning. At the end of 4 months, all of the baseline tests will be repeated.

Triheptanoin is experimental oil. It is a clear, odorless oil that can be mixed with foods and used in cooking. Almost all oils are made from even chains of carbon molecules. Triheptanoin is different because the carbon chains are odd in number. The co-investigator of this study at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Jerry Vockely, holds an IND for the prescription, and use of triheptanoin in humans (IND 106011).

Data Analysis: The change in exercise ability, heart function, Calories used and body fat after 4 months will be compared between subjects randomized to MCT versus triheptanoin.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

32

Phase

  • Phase 2

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

    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97239
        • Oregon Health & Science University
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15224
        • University of Pittsburgh

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

Ages Eligible for Study

5 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Confirmed diagnosis of Very long-chain acylCoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) Deficiency, Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 2 (CPT2) Deficiency, Mitochondrial Trifunctional Protein (TFP) Deficiency, or Long-chain 3 hydroxyacylCoA dehydrogenase (LCHAD) deficiency
  • > 7 years
  • Ability to travel to CRC to participate
  • Ability to follow protocol

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Hgb < 10 g/dl
  • Peripheral neuropathy that limits ability to complete treadmill studies
  • Inclusion in another research study that alters macronutrient intake
  • Pregnant females
  • history of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular disease

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT)
Subjects randomized to consume 20% of energy from MCT
Triglyceride with three heptanoin or 7 carbon fatty acids esterified to a glycerol backbone
Other Names:
  • C7
  • IND 113386
Experimental: Triheptanoin
Subject randomized to consume 20% of energy from triheptanoin.
Triglyceride with three heptanoin or 7 carbon fatty acids esterified to a glycerol backbone
Other Names:
  • C7
  • IND 113386

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Energy Expenditure
Time Frame: change from baseline after 4 months of treatment
Total energy expenditure will be measured by doubly labeled water and resting energy expenditure will be measured by indirect calorimetry at baseline and again after 4 months of either MCT or trihpetanoin treatment.
change from baseline after 4 months of treatment
Ejection Fraction
Time Frame: 4 months
Change in resting ejection fraction over 4 month treatment period
4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Exercise Heart Rate
Time Frame: change from baseline to 4 months of treatment
Subjects will complete a submaximal treadmill exercise study at baseline. Exercise heart heart, ventilation and perceived exertion will be measured. Subjects will be randomized to MCT or triheptanoin supplementation for 4 months. At the end of treatment, the exercise test will be repeated keeping work performed constant. Change in exercise heart rate, ventilation and exertion will be compared between groups.
change from baseline to 4 months of treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Melanie B Gillingham, PhD, Oregon Health and Science University

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.

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

September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 21, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

June 23, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 23, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 21, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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