Effect of Prolonged Nightly Fasting on Immunotherapy Outcomes in HNSCC - Role of Gut Microbiome

February 5, 2026 updated by: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Effect of Prolonged Nightly Fasting (PNF) on Immunotherapy Treatment Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Head and Neck Cancer (HNSCC)-Role of Gut Microbiome

This study aims to evaluate if eating within an 8-10-hour window during the day, without any caloric restriction, can lead to better response rates to immunotherapy in head and neck cancer patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

29

Phase

  • 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

  • United States
    • Florida
      • Tampa, Florida, United States, 33612
        • Moffitt Cancer Center

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Newly diagnosed recurrent /metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer that is not amenable to local therapy with curative intent (surgery or radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy) and initiating standard of care immune checkpoint blocker- (Nivolumab, pembrolizumab, Atezolizumab, Avelumab or Durvalumab with or without chemotherapy), for the first time.
  • Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as outlined in RECIST version 1.1.
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 to 1.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • BMI< 18.5.
  • Diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism, pregnancy, any eating disorder including anorexia nervosa or bulimia, metabolic disorders that may affect gluconeogenesis or adaptation to short fasting periods
  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, autoimmune disease requiring systemic steroids, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  • Patients who have known leptomeningeal metastases or untreated or symptomatic brain metastases. Treated, asymptomatic brain metastasis can be included.

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: A: Prolonged Nightly Fasting
Participants will be educated on Prolonged Nightly Fasting (PNF) and the "mycircadianapp". Participants be allowed to choose any 10-hr period that falls between 6 AM- 6 PM, as feeding period. Participants will be recommended to follow study diet guidelines, eat to satiety and not count calories. Participants will be allowed to have water, beverages (<4 kcal) during the fasting period.
Behavioral: Prolonged Nightly Fasting
Limiting daily period of food intake to 10 hours and nightly fasting period to 14 hours.
Other Names:
  • Intermittent Fasting
Active Comparator: B: Regular Eating pattern
Participants will follow a traditional eating pattern with no time restrictions.
Behavioral: Regular Eating pattern
Food intake not limited to a specific time during day/night.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rates of Prolonged Nightly Fasting (PNF) compliance
Time Frame: at 3 months
Adherence to the 8-10 hour time restricted feeding window will be measured using "mycircadianclock" app ,which has been validated as a tool to conveniently and reliably track time of food intake and its correlation with timing of the day and sleep. It can be tailored to restrict feeding duration to specific set points.
at 3 months
Change in gut microbiome and microbial metabolites
Time Frame: Baseline and at 12 weeks
Changes in gut microbiome composition/diversity as well as gut microbial metabolites in participants using PNF will be compared with participants that are not restricting eating times will be measured using stool samples.
Baseline and at 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Collaborators

American Cancer Society, Inc.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Christine Chung, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center

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.

Helpful Links

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)

October 20, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

February 8, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 4, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

October 19, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MCC-21150
  • 20121102 (Other Grant/Funding Number: American Cancer Society)

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.

Clinical Trials on Head and Neck Cancer

Clinical Trials on Prolonged Nightly Fasting

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Slovenia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe