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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

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

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 AST>ALT, y-glutamyl transpeptidase and bilirubin) .

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

  • BMI>35
  • HBV
  • Hemochromatosis
  • Wilson's disease
  • Autoimmune hepatitis
  • Drug-inducted liver disease
  • Hepatitis C
  • Antitrypsin deficiency
  • Patients who do not sign informed consent.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Inclusion -Biopsy 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
04

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

05

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

06

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    Cleveland, Ohio 44195, United States
    • Annette Bellar, BS · Contact · bellara@ccf.org · 216-636-5247
    • Megan Villareal, BS · Contact · villarm@ccf.org · 216-636-5247
    • Srinivasan Dasarathy, MD · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
07

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 ↗
08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03224949
Lead sponsor
The Cleveland Clinic
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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