ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT03224949Updated Sep 25, 2026

Comparison of ALD, NASH, and Healthy Control Patients

An observational study in ALD - Alcoholic Liver Disease, sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-25.

Sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jun 2017; still recruiting 9 years 4 months later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
500
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The availability of biological samples from individuals with alcoholic liver disease (ALD), as well as samples from appropriate heavy drinking, yet healthy controls and non-drinking healthy controls, is an essential first step in the translation of basic research advances to the clinic. The purpose of the Clinical Core component of the P50 Northern Ohio Alcohol Center (NOAC) is to provide biological samples (plasma/serum, buffy coats, and urine) from patients with different stages of alcoholic liver disease, as well as healthy control subjects, to members of the NOAC. These samples can then be used to test specific hypotheses related to the presence of specific biomarkers in the serum, functional immune activity in PBMCs and/or genetic polymorphisms that may predict severity of disease, short- and long-term morbidity and mortality and/or responsivity to specific therapeutic interventions commonly used in clinical practice. This study is building on the established biorepositories and the diversity of outstanding clinical expertise at the Cleveland Clinic. This biorepository included clinical samples (plasma, serum, buffy coats, and urine) from patients with different stages of ALD and subjects who are heavy drinkers without ALD, recruited from the Cleveland Clinic alcohol use disorder treatment clinic. This study will be responsible for collecting more data to help build the CCF-ALD biorepository via subject recruitment and communication and specimen collection.

02

Conditions studied

  • ALD - Alcoholic Liver Disease
03

In context

Liver Diseases, Alcoholic

73 studies on the registry are indexed under Liver Diseases, Alcoholic; 24 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 500 is above the median of 439 across 28 observational studies indexed under Liver Diseases, Alcoholic.

Browse Liver Diseases, Alcoholic studies →

Lead sponsor

The Cleveland Clinic is the lead sponsor of 831 studies on the registry; 119 are open to participants now.

Of its 90 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 73 (81%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Patients will be recruited from within Cleveland Clinic

Eligibility criteria

Alcoholic Steatosis Patients

Inclusion

  • Fat accumulation (Steatosis) without signs of fibrosis/ inflammation in patients with alcohol abuse (alcohol intake >60 g/day in men and >40 g/day in women)
  • Abnormal liver serum tests indicative of liver disease (elevated >ALT, y-glutamyl transpeptidase and ) .

Alcoholic Hepatitis with Mild Fibrosis

Inclusion

  • Steatosis plus hepatocellular damage (presence of Mallory bodies and hepatocellular ballooning)
  • Polymorphonuclear infiltrate
  • Fibrosis stage 1-2

Alcoholic Hepatitis with Advanced Fibrosis

Inclusion

  • Steatosis plus hepatocellular damage (presence of Mallory bodies and hepatocellular ballooning)
  • Polymorphonuclear infiltrate
  • Fibrosis stage 3-4.

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Inclusion

  • Fibrosis stage 4
  • Presence of complications of cirrhosis such as esophageal varices with our without a previous episode of bleeding, splenomegaly, ascites, hepatic corroborate the diagnosis of cirrhosis.

Alcoholic Cirrhosis with HCC

Inclusion

-Diagnostic criteria of cirrhosis and established HCC. The diagnosis of HCC will be established based on histological confirmation or contrast-enhanced radiographic imaging according to the AASLD recommendations.

Exclusion

  • >35
  • Hemochromatosis
  • Wilson's disease
  • hepatitis
  • Drug-inducted liver disease
  • Antitrypsin deficiency
  • Patients who do not sign .

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Inclusion - proven NASH and chronic liver disease due to HCV patients.

Exclusion

  • Cancer
  • Diabetes
  • Hypertension
  • CAD or stroke
  • Past history of liver disease
  • Hepatitis C
  • Antitrypsin deficiency
  • Alcohol consumption of less than 7 drinks per week for women and less than 14 drinks per week for men
  • BMI >35.

Healthy controls

Inclusion

-AUDIT-C score less than 4 in men and less than 3 in women.

Exclusion

  • Cancer (except of non-melanoma skin cancer)
  • Diabetes
  • Hypertension
  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • Coronary artery disease or stroke
  • History of current or past liver disease of any etiology
  • BMI >27Kg/m2
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

05

Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
500 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Healthy controls

    Other: Blood draw

  • Alcoholic hepatitis

    Other: Blood draw

  • Alcoholic steatosis

    Other: Blood draw

  • Alcoholic cirrhosis without HCC

    Other: Blood draw

  • Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)

    Other: Blood draw

  • Alcoholic cirrhosis with HCC

    Other: Blood draw

Interventions

  • OtherBlood draw

    Patients will have a one time blood draw

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Biorepository

    The goal of this study is to create a biorepository of samples from patients with different types of liver disease compared to each other and healthy controls

    Time frame: This is a 5 year study

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Helsley RN, Miyata T, Kadam A, Varadharajan V, Sangwan N, Huang EC, Banerjee R, Brown AL, Fung KK, Massey WJ, Neumann C, Orabi D, Osborn LJ, Schugar RC, McMullen MR, Bellar A, Poulsen KL, Kim A, Pathak V, Mrdjen M, Anderson JT, Willard B, McClain CJ, Mitchell M, McCullough AJ, Radaeva S, Barton B, Szabo G, Dasarathy S, Garcia-Garcia JC, Rotroff DM, Allende DS, Wang Z, Hazen SL, Nagy LE, Brown JM. Gut microbial trimethylamine is elevated in alcohol-associated hepatitis and contributes to ethanol-induced liver injury in mice. Elife. 2022 Jan 27;11:e76554. doi: 10.7554/eLife.76554. PubMed 35084335 ↗
09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Minor edits
Nothing that changes what the study is or who can join. Edited: verification date
1 update, last Sep 25, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Sep 25, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: verification date

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03224949
Responsible party
Srinivasan Dasarathy (Staff Physician, The Cleveland Clinic) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jul 21, 2017
Start date
Jun 19, 2017
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 30, 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 25, 2026

Study contacts

Annette Bellar, MSLA
Contact
bellara@ccf.org
216-636-5247
Revathi Penumatsa, MD
Contact
penumar@ccf.org
216 445-0688
Srinivisan Dasarathy, MD
principal investigator · Staff

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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