Cirrhosis clinical trials at UCLA

The participants in this study will have confirmed PBC with inadequate response or intolerance to Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which is a medication used in the management and treatment of cholestatic liver disease. Primary biliary cholangitis is a slowly progressive disease characterised by damage of the bile ducts in the liver, leading to a build-up of bile acids which causes further damage. The liver damage in PBC may lead to scarring (cirrhosis). PBC may also be associated with multiple symptoms. Many patients with PBC may require a liver transplant or may die if the disease progresses and a liver transplant is not done. This study will compare a daily dose of elafibranor (the study drug) to a daily dose of placebo (a dummy treatment). The main aim of this study is to determine if elafibranor is better than placebo in reducing ALP levels to a normal value. High ALP levels in the blood can indicate liver disease. There will be three periods in this study: A screening period (up to 8 weeks) to assess whether the participant can take part; a treatment period (up to 52 weeks) where eligible participants will be grouped as per their blood ALP levels and randomly assigned to either receive elafibranor or placebo, and a follow-up period (4 weeks) where participants' health will be monitored. Participants will be twice as likely to receive elafibranor than placebo (2:1 ratio). Participants will undergo blood sampling, urine collections, physical examinations, clinical evaluations, electrocardiograms (ECG: recording of the electrical activity of heart), ultrasound examinations (a noninvasive test that passes a probe over skin to look at the bladder, urinary tract, and liver), and Fibroscan® examinations (a noninvasive test that passes a probe on skin to measure stiffness of the liver). They will also be asked to fill in questionnaires. Each participant will be in this study for up to 64 weeks (15 months).

Kidney injury is a common complication following liver transplantation and is associated with a higher complication rate and increased risk of death. While there are many factors that likely contribute to kidney injury in the perioperative period, a relative low serum level of angiotensin 2 (Ang 2) (a protein hormone that causes blood vessels to narrow) found in patients with liver cirrhosis (late stage of liver damage) may increase their risk of developing acute kidney injury (sudden episode of kidney failure or damage). We propose to investigate how early administration of Ang 2, a new vasopressor drug approved by the FDA in December 2017 for patients with low blood pressure, during the intra-operative period of liver transplant surgery affects the rate of kidney injury after transplantation. Patients who are deemed appropriate candidates for the study will be randomized 1:1 to the treatment and control groups. The intervention period of the study will occur in the operating room during transplant surgery and will be performed by their anesthesiologists. In the Treatment group, patients will receive Ang 2 infusions in addition to other standard vasopressors while patients in the control group will receive standard vasopressors alone. The infusion of Ang 2 in the treatment group will continue through the duration of the surgery and will be stopped prior to leaving the operating room. Both the treatment group and the control group will then be followed for 14 days to evaluate rates of kidney injury and to look for any complications. The follow up period will be extended to 28 days to look at in-hospital mortality rates in both groups. The daily follow up analysis will occur while the enrolled patients are inpatient following their transplantation surgery and will be done by looking at lab values and other data that is routinely gathered by their managing teams. This study will serve as a pilot study to evaluate feasibility of our protocol and to collect some preliminary data on the use of Ang 2 in this patient population. As such we plan to enroll approximately 30 patients who have accepted an offer to receive a donor liver. We hope to reach our goal enrollment within 5 months of starting the study.

Study RNLC3131 is a Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study to assess the efficacy and safety of rifaximin SSD-40mg IR for the delay of the first episode of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) decompensation in liver cirrhosis, defined by the presence of medically controlled ascites.

Clinical guidelines (AASLD) recommend the use of abdominal ultrasound (US) for surveillance testing for the early detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The serum protein biomarker alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is commonly used to augment US but its use alone is not recommended by clinical guidelines. Despite evidence that HCC surveillance improves early detection and reduces mortality from HCC, current HCC surveillance tests lack sensitivity, leaving a significant proportion of patients to present with late-stage disease. The Glycotest HCC Panel has shown better sensitivity than AFP, which is ineffective for the detection of early-stage HCC. This clinical study seeks to validate the Glycotest HCC Panel using a large multicenter cohort of cases and controls that includes patients diagnosed with early-stage HCC against a background of cirrhosis and cirrhotic patients without HCC (at risk) undergoing an established surveillance protocol.