Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor Plus N-Acetyl Cysteine In Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis
Brief Summary:
Alcoholic hepatitis is related to very high mortality rate. About 40% of the patients are died within first 6 months after the detection of the clinical syndrome. Therefore, it is very essential for proper diagnosis and early treatment. In response to acute or chronic liver damage, bone marrow derived stem cells can spontaneously populate liver and differentiate into hepatic cells. Animal and human studies suggested that injured hepatocyte may be replaced by pluripotent bone marrow cells. However, this hepatocyte repopulation is highly dependent on varieties of liver injury and therapeutic conditions6. The studies has suggested Granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (G-CSF) can regenerate hepatocyte by fusing with hematopoietic cells, thereby enhancing the liver histology and survival rate.
G-CSF is a cytokine capable to regulate a number of functions in neutrophils. In three recent studies mobilization of bone marrow stem cells induced by G-CSF was observed in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. In two of this studies there was a survival benefit with the use of G-CSF.
Alcoholism leads to decrease in endogenous antioxidant potential. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) patients show low endogenous antioxidants. Chronic ethanol consumption cause selective deficiency in the availability of reduced glutathione (GSH) in mitochondria has been reported. This is due to impaired functioning of GSH transporter from cytosol to mitochondrial matrix. The effect on glutathione replenishing potential by N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) can be used to reduce oxidative stress, which also has excellent safety profile. Therefore, NAC can be used for severe alcoholic hepatitis treatment due to its therapeutic potential factor. NAC also inhibit apoptosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine production. In a study high doses of intravenous N-acetyl cysteine therapy