Active clinical trials for "Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease"

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the aggressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is rapidly becoming a worldwide public health problem. It is more common in the military and Veteran population compared to the general US population. NASH may progress to end-stage liver disease and primary liver cancer, and hence there is critical need for effective treatment. The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether low dose thyroid hormone administered to Veterans diagnosed with NASH can be an effective therapy mediated by improvement in breaking down fat in the mitochondria. The study will be conducted in two stages, the first stage is for proof of concept to be followed by interim analysis. If the interim analysis supports the merit for continuing the study, the clinical trial will proceed to stage 2 for continuation. This study will provide new information and strategies for treatment of NASH using low dose thyroid hormone that will be highly relevant and impactful to the health of the Veteran population.

Obesity has been increasing all over the world. This has lead to a significant increase of a liver disease in children called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is a liver disease that ranges from excess fat being stored in the liver to an inflamed and fatty liver with fibrosis to cirrhosis. NAFLD is thought to be caused by changes in energy, fat and carbohydrate metabolism induced by diets high in in processed foods. Sugary (especially high fructose corn syrup or HFCS) and fatty foods in processed foods have been shown to produce more insulin resistance, a factor that is thought to cause a fatty liver. Currently the main treatment for NAFLD is weight loss. However, it unknown the best way to achieve this. The investigator has shown previously that adolescents with NAFLD eat a lot of fatty and sugary foods, and that when they decrease the amount of foods they eat that contain HFCS, experience some improvements in insulin resistance and liver dysfunction even when they don't lose weight. The plan is to compare and contrast how two different diets (high vs low HFCS containing diets) may affect how much fat gets deposited in the liver and whether or not a lower diet in HFCS can help decrease liver damage in adolescents with NAFLD.

Arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction present in metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) confer increased cardiovascular risk, which represents the leading cause of mortality in this group of patients. Mechanisms involved in the cardiovascular complications of MAFLD have recently been found to also affect cerebral blood flow altering cerebral hemodynamics in MAFLD subjects. These alerations can be detected through transcranial Doppler, which measures markers of cerebrovascular vasoconstriction, which indicates cerebrovascular autoregulation.16 These abnormalities are related to vascular disease in MAFLD, which plays an essential role in ischemic stroke and cognitive impairment, which explains why MAFLD patients had lower scores on cognitive function tests.17 Nonetheless, there are no studies evaluating the effect of lifestyle interventions (specifically exercise) on cerebral hemodynamics in patients with MAFLD, however, it has been shown that in other pathologies that share pathophysiological similarities with NAFLD there are beneficial changes in this outcome. An example of the above is chronic heart failure and liver cirrhosis, where physical exercise attenuates the inflammatory cascade (decrease in IL6, IL8, IL12, TNFa), and decreases the activation of the renin-angiotensin system with a direct effect on endothelial function improvement. Our research group also documented that a 12-week physical training program acts on this mechanism and has a beneficial effect on cerebral hemodynamics evaluated by transcranial Doppler in patients with liver cirrhosis, which leads to an improvement in neuropsychometric tests.18 Improvement in the previously described pathways through a 16-week physical training program in MAFLD patients could potentially improve alterations in cerebral blood flow, cognitive function, endothelial function, body composition, and the degree of liver steatosis and fibrosis. This outcome has never been assessed in MAFLD patients undergoing exercise. In addition, although there are studies that demonstrate the impact of diet and exercise, most have evaluated these interventions individually, which represents a limitation when implementing them as a multidisciplinary intervention. Therefore, our hypothesis is that a 16-week physical training program will improve cerebral hemodynamic parameters in patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver compared to a control group without a physical training program.

Fructose is a big contributor to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Inhibiting ketohexokinase (KHK), the enzyme catalyzing the first committed step in fructose metabolism, is thought to reduced intrahepatic lipid (IHL) content. Pharmacological inhibition of KHK resulted in a decrease in IHL content in NAFLD patients, but additional health effects are still unknown. In this study the investigators aim to look at additional health effects following KHK inhibition (KHKi).

The design of the Phase 2 clinical trial includes the following elements: Multi-center, two-arm, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate MN-001 (tipelukast) vs. placebo in approximately 40 patients in the U.S. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to receive either 500 mg/day of MN-001 (tipelukast) or placebo for 24 weeks. The co-primary endpoints are (1) change from baseline in liver fat content measured by controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) score at Week 24, and (2) change from baseline in fasting serum triglycerides at Week 24. FebroScan is a non-invasive, quantitative, and accurate measure of liver fat content commonly used in early phase trials to measure treatment response. Secondary endpoints include safety and tolerability and changes in lipid profile (HDL-C, LDL-C, and total cholesterol).

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) represents a serious public health problem. Patients with T2D and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) demonstrate a poor metabolic profile and increase mortality compared with patients with only NAFLD or T2D. Nutritional intervention is the most basic treatment for T2D. Previous study showed that a Chinese medical nutrition therapy (CMNT) diet, which intermittent use of low-calorie medicinal food, has a glucose-lowering effect in T2D. This study aims to investigate the effect of a Chinese medical nutrition therapy (CMNT) diet accompanied by intermittent energy restriction on reducing liver fat and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with T2D and NAFLD.

VLCKD has showed to be an impactful diet on several metabolism aspects and has proven to be useful for preventing and treating diabetes mellitus type 2, overweight, chronic inflammation and fatty liver. For this reason, the aim of this pilot study is to examinate the potential effect of a VLCKD on a group of patients that contemporarily have DM2, obesity and Non alcholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), comparing the results with an ipocaloric diet based on Mediterranean Principles and Italian LARN (SINU 2014). This study will consider several interrelated outcomes such as anthropometric data, hematochemical and hormonal parameters, questionnaires, stool microbiota and omics, blood microvescicles, urine tests, instrumental tests (DXA, BIVA, ecographies), biopses and functional tests. 40 subjects will be evaluated and divided in two groups of 20 (VLCKD) and 20 (MedDiet).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of berberine treatment on Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), fatty infiltration of the liver in the absence of alcohol use, is an increasingly recognized complication of obesity, with prevalence estimates of about 30% of individuals in the United States. A subset of these will develop progressive disease in the form of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can progress to cirrhosis and liver failure. The investigators hypothesize that LUM-201 (Ibutamoren mesylate) will decrease intrahepatic lipid accumulation as quantified by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS).

This will be a 6-month randomized clinical trial with two arms: moderately carbohydrate-restricted diet and a fat-restricted control diet. This 6-month study will have 2 phases: a 12-week controlled feeding phase and a 12-week "free living" phase. During the controlled feeding phase, all food will be provided to the families of the participants for the entirety of the 12 weeks. Participants (n=80) will have been diagnosed with NAFLD based on the presence of current evidence of active disease, which will be determined by the ongoing presence of hepatic steatosis estimated by diffusely echogenic liver via ultrasound suggestive of fatty liver and a serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level of 45 U/L or greater. All participants will be children and adolescents age 10-17 yrs.; will have an HbA1c <7.0; and will be overweight or obese (BMI >85th percentile). It is anticipated that most participants will be sedentary. The investigators will inquire as to routine physical activity at screening. All participants will be asked to maintain their usual level of physical activity throughout the study. Physical activity will be monitored via a smart watch provided to each participant at the beginning of the study, and participants will be queried weekly by the study dietitian regarding changes in physical activity. Participants who use oral contraceptives will be asked to maintain consistent use of these preparations throughout the study. Hormone use will be examined as a potential covariate in statistical analyses.