Ghrelin Repeated Dose Study (GRD)

University of Pennsylvania

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2

Conditions: Frailty in Aging

Treatments: Drug: ghrelin

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01833078

817283

Details and patient eligibility

About

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome leading to physical deterioration including muscle wasting (sarcopenia) and unintentional weight loss. There are currently no approved therapies for frailty. Ghrelin is a hormone produced by the stomach that stimulates appetite centers in the brain. The investigators already know that a single dose of Ghrelin improves food intake immediately after the dose in frail older people. In this study, the investigators are trying to find out if repeated daily doses of ghrelin will help frail older people improve food intake for multiple days in a row.

Full description

The study design is an open label, repeated dose administration study in which we will examine the safety and efficacy of repeated subcutaneous ghrelin administration in frail individuals. There will be a screening visit plus three additional study visits at the CTRC on Days 1, 2, and 7. Participants will receive an injection of ghrelin subcutaneously once daily on Days 1 and 7 and will self-administer the subcutaneous injection before breakfast on Days 2-6 at home. A food record will be kept from Day -3 to Day 6. We will assess the efficacy of repeated ghrelin doses to sustainably increase caloric intake from pre-treatment baseline without hyperglycemia or raising of cortisol levels.

Enrollment: 5 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 70+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Individuals with three, four or five frailty criteria using the Fried frailty criteria

Exclusion criteria

1. Diabetes mellitus or fasting glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL
2. Hospitalization for stroke, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, vascular surgery in the past six months.
3. New York Heart Association Class III or IV congestive heart failure
4. Therapy for cancer in the past 12 months, except non-melanoma skin cancer
5. BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2
6. Current use of corticosteroids other than topical, ophthalmic, and inhaled preparations
7. Therapy with megestrol acetate or dronabinol within the last 6 weeks
8. Thyroid stimulating hormone measured as < 0.4 mU/L or greater than 10mU/L
9. Abnormal liver function tests (LFTs > 2x upper limit of normal)
10. Hemoglobin < 11g/dL
11. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) above the age-specific reference range
12. History of surgery within the last 30 days
13. Unstable medical or psychological conditions or unstable home or food environment
14. Cognitive deficit as defined by a Folstein Mini Mental State Exam score < 24/30
15. Depression (defined as a score of > 11 on the Geriatric Depression Questionnaire)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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5 participants in 1 patient group

7 day ghrelin dosing - all participants

Other group

Description:

All participants will receive an injection of ghrelin (7.5mcg/kg) dose subcutaneously once daily on Days 1, 2 and 7 in the research center and will self-administer the subcutaneous injection before breakfast on Days 2-6 at home.

Treatment:

Drug: ghrelin