Liver Disease clinical trials at UCSF

The study consists of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and feasibility of a stepped alcohol treatment using telemedicine on unhealthy alcohol use in patients with chronic liver disease receiving care in hepatology practices at three sites. Patients who meet eligibility criteria will be randomized to one of two study arms: 1) Stepped Alcohol Treatment (SAT) or, 2) Usual Care (UC). Participants will be randomized separately by site. SAT includes 3 sessions of motivational interviewing followed by referral to addiction medicine for patients who do not reduce unhealthy drinking. Trial outcome measures will be complete at 6 and 12 months following baseline enrollment.

The main aim of this study is to learn if fazirsiran reduces liver scarring (fibrosis) compared to placebo. Other aims are to learn if fazirsiran slows down the disease worsening in the liver, to get information on how fazirsiran affects the body (called pharmacodynamics), to learn if fazirsiran reduces other liver injury (inflammation) and the abnormal Z-AAT protein in the liver, to get information on how the body processes fazirsiran (called pharmacokinetics), to test how well fazirsiran works compared with a placebo in improving measures of liver scarring including imaging and liver biomarkers (substances in the blood that the body normally makes and help show if liver function is improving, staying the same, or getting worse) as well as to check for side effects in participants treated with fazirsiran compared with those who received placebo. Participants will either receive fazirsiran or placebo. Liver biopsies, a way of collecting a small tissue sample from the liver, will be taken twice during this study.

The liver produces a protein called alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT). AAT is normally released into the bloodstream. In some people, the liver makes an abnormal version of the AAT protein, called Z-AAT. Making an abnormal version of the AAT protein can result in liver disease as Z-AAT builds up in liver cells, which leads to liver problems such as liver scarring (fibrosis), continuing liver damage (cirrhosis), and eventually endstage liver disease. Fazirsiran is a medicine that reduces the creation of the Z-AAT protein and thus the build-up of this abnormal protein in the liver. People with this type of liver disease who already have mild liver scarring will take part in the study. They will be treated with fazirsiran or a placebo for about 2 years. This study will check the long-term safety of fazirsiran, whether participants tolerate the treatment and if there are any effects on liver scarring. A liver biopsy, a way of collecting a small tissue sample from the liver, will be taken twice during the study.

Participants meeting study entry criteria are randomized with equal probability to one of two study groups: (1) Lifestyle modification or (2) Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) with Iifestyle modification, followed for 12 months. The primary goal for the trial is to determine if the investigators can recruit, randomize, and retain participants to perform invasive and non-invasive measurements of NASH and fibrosis, deliver lifestyle modification and demonstrate the safety of VSG. The investigators wish to also understand which of these two interventions is more effective in achieving, 12 months after entry into the trial, a reduction in NAS composed of the non-weighted scores: (1) steatosis 0-3 (2) Inflammation 0-3 and (3) ballooning 0-2. Secondary goals include comparing the two treatment groups for changes in other measured outcomes including MRI assessments of intrahepatic triglyceride and liver elasticity and serum markers. As a pilot study, a sample size of 20 in each group should offer significant information as to the difference in NAS score reduction between to two groups and achieve adequate power to distinguish clinically significant changes in the primary and secondary outcome measures. These data support the overarching objective i.e. to provide evidence that a larger, longer-term clinical outcomes trial is feasible. A goal is for a longer term follow up for 5 years to assess the durability of treatment effects and treatment differences.

This will be a prospective cohort study of patients with liver disease. Subjects will undergo geriatric assessments of frailty, functional status, and disability using functional status measures at baseline and at every clinic visit in the pre-transplant setting. Subjects will also answer questions regarding quality of life, personality, and/or cognitive function. Subjects will again undergo assessments at every clinic visit through 12 months after transplant. Then, they will be followed annually.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of liver conditions associated with fat accumulation that ranges from benign, non-progressive liver fat accumulation to severe liver injury, cirrhosis, and liver failure. The spectrum of NAFLD encompasses simple nonalcoholic steatosis (nonalcoholic fatty liver [NAFL]) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in which there is evidence of hepatocellular injury and/or fibrosis. NAFLD is the most common liver disease in adults and the second leading cause for liver transplantation in the U.S. The natural history of NAFLD in the general population has been well described. The NASH Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN) was established by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) in 2002 to further the understanding of the diagnosis, mechanisms, progression and therapies of NASH. This effort has resulted in numerous seminal studies in the field. However, NASH CRN studies have systematically excluded persons living with HIV (PLWH) , as NAFLD in PLWH was thought to be different from that in the general population due to HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy (ART), concomitant medications and co-infections. This resulted in major knowledge gaps regarding NAFLD in the setting of HIV infection. Thus, the natural history of NAFLD in PLWH is largely unknown. The goal of this ancillary study of NAFLD and NASH in Adults with HIV (HIV NASH CRN), is to conduct a prospective, observational, multicenter study of NAFLD in PLWH (HIV-associated NAFLD).