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CompletedNCT00111956Updated Oct 6, 2017

Effects of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-Alpha Antagonism in Patients With Metabolic Syndrome

A Phase 2/3 interventional study of Etanercept and Placebo in Metabolic Syndrome X, sponsored by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 55 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-10-06.

Sponsored by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) · Phase 2/3, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was May 2005, 21 years 5 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
  • Registered 1 year 1 month after the study started (first participant enrolled Apr 2004, registered May 2005).
Phase
Phase 2/3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
56
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 55 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Metabolic syndrome is associated with increased inflammatory cytokines and reduced adiponectin, that may be mediated in part by TNF production from abdominal fat. We reasoned that an anti-TNF agent would reduce C-reactive protein (CRP) and increase adiponectin, improving the inflammatory milieu associated with metabolic syndrome.

Read the detailed description

Screening visit 1:

Fifty six patients will be randomized to receive etanercept or identical placebo. During the screening visit, after informed consent is obtained, subjects will undergo a medical history and physical exam, which will include vital signs, weight, abdominal girth measurements and an evaluation for signs of underlying infection. A purified protein derivative (PPD) of 5 tuberculin units (TU) (0.1 milliliter of 5 TU/0.1 ml solution) will be intradermally placed to test for the presence of tuberculosis (TB). Fasting blood work will include a complete blood count (CBC), glucose, insulin, a cholesterol panel, and urine pregnancy test. Subjects will be shown what a subcutaneous injection entails using placebo. Patients will be selected based on their laboratory results, abdominal girth measurements and PPD negativity 48 hrs after placement.

Screening visit 2:

Subjects will return 48 hours after their first screening visit for evaluation of their PPD test. In the event of a positive PPD, subjects will be excluded from the study, and their primary care physicians will be notified of their test result.

Day 1 visit:

Subjects will report to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Clinical Research Center (GCRC) after an overnight fast. Fasting blood work will be obtained to test for CRP, adiponectin, IL-6, TNF-alpha, TNF-alpha receptor 1, TNF-alpha receptor 2, free fatty acids, glucose, insulin and a cholesterol panel, and CBC. A urine pregnancy test will be done. Patients will be asked to recall the food they consumed over the past 24 hours. A bionutritionist will measure height, weight, waist, hip, chest, arm, neck and thigh circumference. Subjects will be instructed to practice adequate birth control throughout the study. Serum will be stored for etanercept antibody testing.

Subjects will then undergo an insulin modified frequently sampled intravenous (IV) glucose tolerance test (FSIGT) as initially developed by Bergman et al.

Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) (Hologic QDR 4500) will be used to determine whole body and regional fat. The technique has a precision error (1 SD) of 3% for whole body fat and 1.5% for lean mass. Subjects will also undergo a single thin-slice CT scan of the abdomen at L4 vertebral body to determine visceral and subcutaneous fat area.

Indirect calorimetry for the measurement of resting energy expenditure indirect calorimetry using the Deltatrac instrument (Sensormedics, Anaheim, CA) will be carried out.

Drug administration:

Patients will be given a total of either etanercept 50 mg subcutaneously or placebo subcutaneously at the GCRC at the end of their visit. They will receive this in two injections of 25 mg each, one given immediately following the other, at different body sites. Etanercept will be supplied as a sterile, white, preservative-free, lyophilized powder. The pharmacy will reconstitute it with 1 mL of the supplied sterile bacteriostatic water for injection (BWFI), United States Pharmacopeia (USP) (containing 0.9% benzyl alcohol). Each vial of etanercept contains 25 mg etanercept, 40 mg mannitol, 10 mg sucrose, and 1.2 mg tromethamine. Subjects will receive the 50 mg dose of etanercept or placebo once a week, given as two 25 mg injections, one immediately following the other, at different body sites, at each of their ensuing three visits to the GCRC, on Visit Day 8, Visit Day 15 and Visit Day 22. Subjects will be monitored for 30 minutes after the injection of study drug at each visit. The skin injection site will be observed and their vital signs will be taken. If a subject has a significant exposure to varicella virus during the study, transient termination of the study will be considered.

Day 8 visit, Day 15 visit, Day 22 visit:

Subjects will report to MGH or MIT Clinical Research Center after an overnight fast. Each subject will undergo a history and physical exam to assess for safety and compliance. Fasting blood work will be obtained. A bionutritionist will measure subjects' height, weight, hip and waist circumference and calculate a waist to hip ratio. They will receive 50 mg of either etanercept or placebo, given as two 25 mg doses subcutaneously, at different body sites.

Day 25 visit:

Subjects will report to MGH or MIT Clinical Research Center after an overnight fast. Each subject will undergo a history and physical exam to assess for safety and compliance. Blood work, a urine pregnancy test and 24 hour food recall will be collected, identical to that on Day 1 visit. Anthropomorphic measurements will be the same as the Day 1 visit. Subjects will undergo an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) identical to that on the Day 1 visit. Subjects will undergo a DEXA, bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), and CT, and indirect calorimetry identical to those on the Day 1 visit. No study drug will be administered at this visit.

02

Conditions studied

  • Metabolic Syndrome X

Keywords

  • TNF
  • metabolic syndrome
  • inflammation
  • CRP
  • adiponectin
03

In context

Metabolic Syndrome

1,964 studies on the registry are indexed under Metabolic Syndrome; 330 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 56 is close to the median of 60 across 1,460 interventional studies indexed under Metabolic Syndrome.

Browse Metabolic Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is the lead sponsor of 529 studies on the registry; 54 are open to participants now.

Of its 79 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 50 (63%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 55 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Hyperinsulinemia in the upper quartile of the non-diabetic population defined as ≥10 mU/mL (Framingham Data, oral communication, James Meigs, MD) or fasting glucose 110-126 mg/dL, plus two of the following: *Abdominal obesity defined by waist hip ratio > 0.90 for men and > 0.85 for women or *body mass index (BMI) > 30 kg/m2
  • Dyslipidemia including serum triglycerides ≥150 mg/dl or serum HDL \< 0.9 mmol/L for men (35 mg/dL) and \< 1.0 mmol/L (39 mg/dL) for women
  • Hypertension defined as blood pressure ≥ 140/90 or on medication

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Positive PPD (≥ 5mm induration) on screening
  • Current infection
  • Therapy with glucocorticoid or immunosuppressant at time of recruitment or within past 3 months
  • Reception of live vaccine within 1 week of recruitment
  • History of blood dyscrasia including any kind of anemia, thrombocytopenia, pancytopenia. Women with a reversible cause of anemia that has resolved will be eligible.
  • History of malignancy (except patients with surgically cured basal cell or squamous cell skin cancers who will be eligible)
  • History of organ transplantation
  • History of central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating disorder or any first degree relative with multiple sclerosis
  • History of congestive heart failure (CHF) classes I-IV
  • Current use of insulin, any oral anti-hyperglycemic agents, pentoxyfylline, beta-agonists
  • Current use of fibrate or niacin
  • Initiation of statin therapy within prior 6 weeks or expecting a change in statin dose over the upcoming 3 months
  • Hemoglobin \< 11 g/dl
  • Positive pregnancy test
  • Women of child-bearing potential not currently using non-hormonal birth control methods including barrier methods (intrauterine device (IUD), condoms, diaphragms) or abstinence
  • Patients with known autoimmune or inflammatory conditions
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2 / Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
56 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Etanercept

    Drug: Etanercept

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugEtanercept
  • DrugPlacebo
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. C-reactive protein (CRP), mg/L

    Time frame: 25 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Adiponectin, ug/mL

    Time frame: 25 days

  2. Interleukin 6, ng/L

    Time frame: 25 days

  3. Fibrinogen, mg/dL

    Time frame: 25 days

  4. Insulin sensitivity

    Time frame: 25 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Mass General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Bernstein LE, Berry J, Kim S, Canavan B, Grinspoon SK. Effects of etanercept in patients with the metabolic syndrome. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Apr 24;166(8):902-8. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.8.902. PubMed 16636217 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 6, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00111956
Lead sponsor
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Collaborators
Massachusetts General Hospital
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 27, 2005
Start date
Apr 2004
Primary completion
May 2005
Completion
May 2005
Last update
Oct 6, 2017

Study contacts

Steven K Grinspoon, MD
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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