Active clinical trials for "Liver Diseases"

Dithiolethiones, a novel class of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activators, prevent insulin resistance through AMPK-dependent p70 ribosomal S6 kinase-1 (S6K1) inhibition. And it is well known that the modulation of S6K1 by oltipraz inhibited the development of insulin resistance and hyperglycemia through the AMPK-S6K1 pathway.Also some research reported that LXRg (a member of the nuclear hormone receptor)-mediated increases in SREBP-1c (the sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c gene) promote the expression of lipogenic genes and enhance fatty acid synthesis and oltipraz inhibits LXRg and SREBP-c. Therefore, Oltipraz inhibits fatty acid synthesis through AMPK-S6K1 pathway and LXRg-SREBP-1c pathway in liver.

CyNCh is a multi-center, placebo-controlled clinical trial of children ages 8 to 17 years with biopsy-confirmed moderate to severe nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The primary objective is to evaluate whether 52 weeks of treatment with cysteamine bitartrate delayed-release capsules will result in improvement in liver disease severity.

There is preliminary evidence that Omega 3, a compound naturally found in fish oil, reduces the amount of fat stored in the liver and improves liver function. The purpose of this study is to see whether this observation is correct.

Liver resection have been a primary treatment option for lesions found in the liver. With improvements in surgical technique and perioperative patient management, morbidity and mortality related to liver resection have been greatly reduced. However, many patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have underlying liver disease. Severity of underlying liver disease plays an important role in decision making of resection extent. Therefore, liver failure and decreased liver function following liver resection still remains to be an critical issue. Postresection liver failure is generally defined by serum total bilirubin greater than 3mg/dL and prothrombin time of less than 50% of normal (INR >1.7). Pathophysiology of postresection liver failure is not yet well known. However, sepsis after liver resection, small-for-size syndrome (SFSS), and ischemia/reperfusion injury are known to have important roles in persistant liver injury after resection. After a liver resection, kupffer cells are drastically decreased and innate immunity of the patient is also damaged. This process causes the patient to be vulnerable to infection. In addition, with continuous endotoxin secretion, dysfunction in kupffer cells are triggered and liver regeneration is affected. Complex mechanisms leading to dysfunctional kupffer cells and apoptosis and necrosis of hepatocytes are mediated by neutrophils, complement, reactive oxygen species, and acute inflammatory cytokines. Recent studies have reported on many promising effects of the synthetic protease inhibitor, such as Gabexate mesilate. These include antioxidant effect, inhibition of acute inflammatory cytokine reaction, and anticoagulatory property. Based on these effects, synthetic protease inhibitor have gained attention in the role of hepatocyte protection after liver resection. Currently, there is a report on the hepatocyte protective effects of Gabexate Mesilate on ischemia/reperfusion injury caused by the Pringle maneuver. However, with the advances in surgical technique and equipment, many surgeons now perform liver resection without Pringle maneuver. Therefore, this study was designed to determine effects of Gabexate Mesilate in the liver resection performed without Pringle maneuver.

Regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells (Treg) derived from the thymus and/or periphery can control immune responsiveness to auto- and allo-antigens. However, there have been few efforts to harness the therapeutic potential of isolated Tregs to control graft rejection and inducing transplantation tolerance in solid organ recipients. In order for Tregs to be used as a clinical treatment, the following properties are necessary: ex vivo generation of sufficient numbers of cells, migration in vivo to sites of antigenic reactivity, ability to suppress rejection in an alloantigen-specific manner, and survival/expansion after infusion. The and others have demonstrated 1) the feasibility of expanding Treg ex vivo, 2) the ability of these cells to down-regulate allogeneic immune responses in vitro, and 3) the efficacy of Treg for prevention of allograft rejection in animal models. In kidney transplant, the investigators have developed strategies for the ex vivo expansion of naturally occurring human Tregs (nTregs) from leukapheresis products that would allow for the clinical employment of this cellular therapy. The investigators are also interested in this approach in patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) undergoing liver transplantation (LT). Our central hypothesis is that alloreactive human nTreg with suppressive action can be expanded ex vivo from ESLD patients (this proposal) and used to both prevent liver transplant rejection and facilitate the minimization and withdrawal of drug-based immunosuppression (future proposals). This application will further define and validate efficient methods for ex vivo expansion of human CD4+CD25+CD127- FOXP3+nTregs cells in ESLD. The investigators herein propose to use leukapheresis products obtained from patients with ESLD to further refine and optimize protocols for expansion of Tregs. Suppressive function of expanded cells will be assessed using in vitro assays of alloreactivity (mixed lymphocyte culture).

The purpose of this study is to determine whether nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with altered peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity and to investigate potential mechanisms underlying insulin resistance in NAFLD by determining associations between hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivity, hepatic steatosis, dyslipidemia, inflammatory cytokines, glucose metabolism, beta-cell function and body fat distribution.

Individuals with clinically identified non-alcoholic fatty liver disease will undergo baseline evaluation of IL-17 and other inflammatory markers as well as microbiome determination. The probiotic formulation VSL#3 450 Billion CFU twice daily will be administered for 8 weeks and the determination of Il-17 and microbiome will be repeated. Each subject will serve as his or her own control.

To characterize the pharmacokinetics and safety of dabrafenib following a single 100 mg oral dose in subjects with moderate and severe hepatic impairment.

This study will advance several goals of the NIH Action Plan: 1) establish a multidisciplinary team to develop quantitative methodologies and imaging protocols for liver, 2) validate diagnostic criteria and methodologies for imaging in liver in both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal dietary intervention study of patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), 3) create a liver tissue bank with correlative imaging data, 4) develop reliable non-invasive MR markers to distinguish simple steatosis from Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), and 5) define the dynamic changes in metabolism, energy homeostasis, and MR biomarkers as they relate to fructose-related liver injury.

This Study will look at the effect of substances called "angiogenic factors"(development of new blood vessels) have on the development of severe liver disease. The results may help to understand the factors involved in the repair and regeneration of liver tissue and to see if different types of liver disease are associated with different types of factors, especially in the severe liver disease called hepatorenal syndrome.