Inflammation Clinical Trials

This study evaluates the hypothesis that osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) and non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) elicit anti-inflammatory actions through activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. In a cross-over design, research participants will be subjected to various combinations of OMT, taVNS, or sham interventions during four study sessions, that are at least one month apart. During each study session research participants will undergo OMT and/or taVNS for 3 consecutive days. Blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) will be recorded on all three study days to assess parasympathetic nervous system function. On the 3rd study day a blood sample will be taken to assess the effects of OMT and/or taVNS on inflammation. Read Less

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the influenza vaccine will shed important light on how the immune system responds to different positive and negative social experiences. Building on the nuanced animal literature showing that, while animals exposed to an inflammatory challenge show reductions in social exploration consistent with the sickness behavior of social withdrawal, they actually show increases in social engagement behavior during interactions with a cage mate or pair-bonded animal. The present study will examine if a mild inflammatory challenge (receipt of the influenza vaccine) leads to change in actual social behavior in interactions, specifically toward a stranger and separately, toward a close friend. This study will also build on foundational animal research showing that an inflammatory challenge leads to social defeat behaviors in animals. Read Less

Mechanistic data show that compounds in fruits and vegetables have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties that can reduce breast cancer risk. However, observational and interventional studies have provided mixed results, and a recent report by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) concludes that the data are insufficient but suggestive that non-starchy vegetables and foods containing carotenoids reduce risk. Measurement error, relatively low levels of carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetable intake in the study populations, emphasis on diet in later adulthood, and confounding factors likely contribute to the weak associations. Therefore, the investigators will conduct a randomized diet intervention trial in young women to assess the extent to which at least 8 to 10 daily servings of deeply pigmented and nutrient dense fruits and vegetables reduces biomarkers of breast cancer risk. The intervention is focused on breastfeeding women because: 1) pregnancy and lactation are normal early life course events; 2) the risk of pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is increased for up to 10 years postpartum; 3) a dietary intervention to reverse the detrimental molecular changes associated with puberty and pregnancy is more likely to be successful in younger than in older women;4) a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is hypothesized to reduce the inflammation during lactation/weaning and lower PABC risk; 5) postpartum lactating women may be a highly motivated population; and 6) breastmilk provides access to the breast microenvironment and breast epithelial cells to non-invasively assess the diet intervention directly in the breast. Four hundred nursing mothers will be randomly assigned to either the intervention arm, in which they are asked to increase fruit and vegetable intake to at least 8 to 10 daily servings for one year, or to a control condition in which participants receive a dietary guideline for breastfeeding mothers. Women in the intervention arm will receive counseling and boxes of fruits and vegetables for the first 20 weeks, after which they will continue to receive counseling. Changes in DNA methylation and cytokine profiles in breastmilk will be evaluated. Maternal weight and body fat distribution, and infant growth will be monitored. These results will greatly expand our knowledge of how diet alters molecular pathways in a specific organ, ultimately contributing to both breast cancer etiology and prevention. Read Less

The overall objective of this project is to determine the interplay of salmon as a whole food and its bioactive compound astaxanthin on gut microbiome, fecal metabolome, and inflammation in obese prediabetic individuals. Our central hypothesis is that dietary bioactive astaxanthin in the form of whole food salmon will effectively reduce inflammation in obese prediabetic individuals, and favorably change the gut microbiota composition and diversity. The investigators anticipate that these changes will result in improved metabolic outcomes in obesity and type 2 diabetes. The two primary aims include: Aim 1: Assess the anti-inflammatory effect of the salmon dietary intervention and the underlying mechanisms on the change in plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines important for the host immune response. Aim 2: Identify whether the relationship between salmon consumption and decreased inflammation is mediated by the gut microbiome. Read Less

This study will primarily test various phytonutrient-based supplements to see which gets absorbed into the body the best. The study will secondarily look at inflammatory markers in the urine to determine any change. Read Less

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic presents a great challenge to global health. The first case was identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and since has infected nearly 100 million people and claimed almost 2 million lives worldwide. In response, the medical community and scientists have worked hard to develop effective therapies and guidelines to treat a wide range of symptoms including the use of the antiviral drug remdesivir, convalescent plasma, antibiotics, steroids, and anticoagulant therapy. To prevent the spread of the disease, multiple vaccines based on mRNA and DNA technologies that include inactivated viral components have been developed and millions of doses are currently being administered worldwide. Early analysis of data from the phase III Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine trials suggested the vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing the illness with a good safety profile (Polack et al., 2020). However, there are still many unknowns regarding the long-term safety of these newer vaccine technologies and the level and duration of immunogenicity. SARS-CoV-2 infection results in seroconversion and production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The antibodies may suppress viral replication through neutralization but might also participate in COVID-19 pathogenesis through a process termed antibody-dependent enhancement (Lu et al., 2020). Rapid progress has been made in the research of antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients, including characterization of the clinical features of antibody responses in different populations infected by SARS-CoV-2, treatment of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma and intravenous immunoglobin products, isolation and characterization of a large panel of monoclonal neutralizing antibodies and early clinical testing, as well as clinical results from several COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In this study, we plan to assess the effic of both vaccines on the healthcare workers. As healthcare workers begin to receive their first vaccination dosage, we will start looking for traces of antibodies within the blood and saliva. The data provided will help us determine the efficacy of the vaccine over a period of 1 year, identify any difference in efficacy amongst different populations (gender, age, and ethnicities) differences among vaccine types, demographics and follow-up on any potential side effects. We will collaborate with Nirmidas Biotech Inc. based in Palto Alto, California, a Stanford University spinoff on this project. Nirmidas Biotech. Inc is a young diagnostic company that have received several FDA EUA tests for COVID-19. We will perform IgG/IgM antibody detection by the NIRMIDAS MidaSpot™ COVID-19 Antibody Combo Detection Kit approved by FDA EUA for POC testing in our hospital site for qualitative antibody testing. We will then send dry blood spot and saliva to Nirmidas for the pGOLD™ COVID-19 High Accuracy IgG/IgM Assay to quantify antibody levels and avidity, both of which are important to immunity. The pGOLD assay is a novel nanotechnology assay platform capable of quantifying antibody levels and binding affinity to viruses. We collaborated recently with Nirmidas on this platform and published a joint paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering on COVID-19 Ab pGOLD assay (Liu et al., 2020). It is also capable of detecting antibodies in saliva samples and could offer a non-invasive approach to assessing antibody response for vaccination. Read Less