Fig 1.
Mechanisms underlying the therapeutic potential of time-restricted eating in Huntington’s disease.
Time-restricted eating (TRE), a form of intermittent fasting, in animal models of Huntington’s disease (HD) and non-HD human and animal studies reveal that the practice increases autophagic activity which is thought to decrease aggregation of the mutant huntingtin protein (mHtt), stimulates production of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), improves metabolic functions, promotes oxidative stress resistance and decreases reactive oxygen species (ROS), and improves measures of circadian rhythm function. Republished from Wells et al., 2024 [16] under a CC BY license, with permission from BMC Springer Nature, original copyright 2024.
Fig 2.
Time-restricted eating in Huntington’s disease study design.
We propose a prospective interventional, open-label, single-arm trial with a target enrollment of 25 participants. Baseline testing will take place approximately one week prior to the TRE onset. The lead-in period will consist of seven days of lifestyle tracking which will be followed by 12 weeks of TRE, where participants will be asked to consume all daily caloric intake within a 6-8 hour window and fast the remaining 16-18 hours of the day. They will then return to clinic for follow-up assessments. Figure created with BioRender.com.
Fig 3.
Schedule of enrollment, interventions, and assessments.
MoCA: Montreal Cognitive Assessment; BIA: bioelectrical impedance analysis; UHDRS: Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale.
Table 1.
Safety blood parameters.
Table 2.
Protocol measures description.