ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06106477Updated Aug 5, 2026

Impact of Intermittent Fasting on Biomarkers of Inflammation and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Feasibility Trial for Women With HR+/HER2- Early Breast Cancer

An interventional study of Intermittent Fasting in Breast Cancer, sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-05.

Sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jul 2024; still recruiting 2 years 3 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This single-arm study is designed to test the hypothesis that a six-month intermittent fasting (IF) intervention is feasible for patients to adhere to and improves health-related quality of life while subjects are on adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET).

Read the detailed description

This is a single-arm pilot study (n=20) designed to evaluate whether a six-month intermittent fasting (IF) intervention, defined as a daily recurring fourteen-hour nightly fasting period, is feasible to adhere to and feasible to determine health outcomes in breast cancer patients with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥25 and who are scheduled to start adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) after definitive therapy.

Subjects with hormone receptor positive, HER2-negative breast cancer will be enrolled into this study. Data on study feasibility, quality of life (QOL) and anthropometric measurements, and biomarkers will be collected and analyzed. After the study is completed, the investigators may also perform a post-hoc analysis on subjects who received adjuvant chemotherapy in combination with AET vs. AET alone.

02

Conditions studied

  • Breast Cancer

Keywords

  • intermittent fasting
  • obesity
  • overweight
  • breast cancer
  • hormone receptor positive
  • HER2-negative
  • human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative
  • HR-positive
  • HR+/HER2-
  • early breast cancer
  • adjuvant endocrine therapy
03

In context

Breast Neoplasms

14,825 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 3,319 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 72 across 10,896 interventional studies indexed under Breast Neoplasms.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Medical College of Wisconsin is the lead sponsor of 548 studies on the registry; 122 are open to participants now.

Of its 75 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 57 (76%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Breast cancer patients ≥ 18 years old who are willing to consent to an approximately 14-hour nighttime fasting period and an approximately 10-hour daytime eating period.
  2. and/or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of estrogen receptor (ER) positive (ER+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2 negative (-) localized breast cancer (stages I-III).

    1. Progesterone receptor positive or negative patients are allowed.
    2. Hormone receptor positivity is defined as ER positivity in at least 1% cells by immunohistochemistry (IHC). HER 2-negative breast cancer is defined as a negative in situ hybridization test or an IHC status of 0, 1+ or 2+. If IHC is 2+, a negative in situ hybridization fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH), or silver-enhanced in situ hybridization (SISH) test is required.
  3. (BMI) ≥ 25.
  4. (ECOG) Performance Status 0-2.
  5. Subject must be willing to start the intermittent fasting (IF) intervention within three months of starting endocrine therapy (AET), or at the discretion of the treating providers, and within 30 days of study enrollment.
  6. Subjects who received neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy must have recovered completely from chemotherapy-related side effects such as nausea/emesis as determined by the treating providers.
  7. Subjects who received neoadjuvant endocrine therapy are eligible only after completion of their definitive surgery (i.e., when ready to start adjuvant endocrine therapy) and treating provider ensures complete closure and healing of surgical incisions.
  8. Subjects who had adjuvant systemic chemotherapy within two to four weeks prior to starting the IF intervention are eligible if they have recovered from acute effects of prior therapy to near baseline as determined by the treating physician.
  9. Subjects on a targeted therapy, such as cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor, or selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), or other clinical trial participants in the adjuvant setting are eligible at the discretion of the treating physician.
  10. Subject co-administered with any prescriptions that may cause dizziness, hypoglycemia, or hypotension need to be evaluated and deemed eligible by the treating physician.
  11. Adequate hepatic, renal function and adequate bone marrow reserve as determined by the treating physician:

    1. (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≤ 2.5 × institutional upper limit.
    2. Total ≤ 1.5 × (ULN), except for subjects with Gilbert's syndrome who may be included if their total bilirubin is ≤ 3.0 × ULN and direct bilirubin ≤ 1.5 × ULN.
    3. alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ≤ 2.5 × institutional upper limit with exception that ALP of \< 5 × ULN is acceptable in patients with elevated with ALP due to bone (in the absence of liver metastases).
    4. Serum creatinine \<1.5 × ULN.
    5. (ANC) ≥1000/µL.
    6. Subjects with lymphopenia are eligible at the discretion of the treating provider.

    i. (Hb) ≥ 8g/dL. ii. count ≥ 100,000/µL.

  12. Premenopausal woman:

    1. Premenopausal is defined as someone who has had menses at any time in the last 12 months. For premenopausal women who are eligible for this trial, the treating physician may choose to monitor ovarian function with laboratory tests e.g., follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol as clinically indicated to assess their menopausal status.
    2. Subjects must agree not to conceive throughout the study and must use accepted methods of .
    3. Women of must have a negative pregnancy test within seven days of registration and or seven to 10 days prior to starting study treatment.
  13. Subjects who have an atypical sleep-wake schedule or different eating schedules are eligible at the discretion of the study investigators and dietitians as long as they agree to nightly fasting.
  14. Ability to understand a written document, and the willingness to sign it.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Subject who works late night shifts.
  2. Subject that was or currently on a fasting diet (e.g., Keto diets), intervention, or an agent (e.g., Ozempic) for the explicit purpose of inducing weight loss in the past one year.
  3. Subject with a history of an eating disorder (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa).
  4. Presence of diabetes.
  5. Presence of chronic dizziness or vertigo.
  6. Presence of endocrine disorders prone to fluctuations in blood sugar (e.g., multiple neuroendocrine disorders, adrenal disorders, chronic hypoglycemia).
  7. Poorly controlled neurological disorders as determined by the treating physician (e.g., epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, syncope, pre-syncopal episodes).
  8. Poorly controlled co-existing cardiac disease as determined by the treating physician, such as chronic hypotension, symptomatic congestive heart failure ( III-IV), unstable angina, arrythmia (e.g., atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, tachycardia).
  9. History of heavy alcohol use as determined by the treating physician.
  10. History of liver disease (cirrhosis, active hepatitis) or chronic renal disease.
  11. Untreated or active infections such as hepatitis, (HIV), chronic unhealed infections.
  12. illness or systemic disease as determined by the treating physician.
  13. Recent hospitalization for a major illness, as determined by the treating physicians, within one month of enrollment.
  14. Subject who is pregnant or breastfeeding. Subjects who become pregnant while on the study will be excluded.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(18)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

HER2

HER2 is a protein, made from the ERBB2 gene, that drives the growth of some cancers. A study may look for a level of the protein, extra copies of the gene, or a particular change in it.

In breast cancer, protein tests are read as HER2-positive, HER2-low or HER2-negative; other cancers use their own rules. Check which test result the study requires.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Intermittent Fasting

    Enrolled subjects are expected to start the study intervention after completion of definitive therapy and within three months of starting AET.

    Behavioral: Intermittent Fasting

Interventions

  • BehavioralIntermittent Fasting

    Participants will be asked to adhere to a six-month intermittent fasting intervention, a daily-recurring dietary plan consisting of: * An approximately fourteen-hour nightly fasting period that is followed by * An approximately ten-hour eating period with their last meal of the day occurring between 17:00 (5:00 PM) and 21:00 (9:00 PM).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Subject adherence to the intermittent fasting schedule.

    This measure is the number of subjects who adhere to at least 80% of the intermittent fasting schedule (i.e., follow the schedule on average for at least eight out of 10 days) throughout the six-month intervention period.

    Time frame: Six months

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Froedtert Hospital & the Medical College of Wisconsin
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, United States
    Recruiting
    • Sailaja Kamaraju, MD · Contactskamaraju@mcw.edu · 414-805-4600
    • Sailaja Kamaraju, MD · Principal investigator
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 5, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06106477
Responsible party
Sailaja Kamaraju (Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 30, 2023
Start date
Jul 19, 2024
Primary completion
Jul 15, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 15, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 5, 2026

Study contacts

Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office
Contact
cccto@mcw.edu
866-680-0505 ext. 8900
Sailaja Kamaraju, MD
principal investigator · Medical College of Wisconsin

Oversight

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

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