Hepatocyte Transplantation for Liver Based Metabolic Disorders

December 5, 2022 updated by: Ira Fox
The purpose of this research study is to determine whether partial irradiation of the liver and liver cell transplantation can provide help for patients with life-threatening liver-based metabolic diseases who are unlikely to survive without extensive medical therapy or transplant. The goal of this research study is to determine if liver cell transplants can be effective as an alternative to organ transplantation. At the present time, liver cell transplants are experimental and have been done in a limited number of human subjects.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Management of patients with hepatic failure and liver-based metabolic disorders is complex and expensive. Hepatic failure results in impaired coagulation, altered consciousness and cerebral function, a heightened risk of multiple organ system failure, and sepsis. Liver transplantation is often the only available treatment option for severe, even if transient, hepatic failure. Patients with life-threatening liver-based metabolic disorders similarly require organ transplantation even though their metabolic diseases are typically the result of a single enzyme deficiency, and the liver otherwise functions normally. More than 17,000 patients currently await liver transplantation in the United States, a number that seriously underestimates the number of patients that need treatment, as it has been estimated that more than a million patients in the United States could benefit from transplantation. Unfortunately, use of whole liver transplantation to treat these disorders is limited by a severe shortage of donors and by the risks associated with major surgery. Hepatocyte transplantation holds great promise as an alternative to organ transplantation for the treatment of liver diseases, and numerous studies in rodents indicate that transplants consisting of isolated liver cells can correct various metabolic deficiencies of the liver and can reverse hepatic failure. The transplant procedure, which involves injection of isolated hepatocytes into the liver through the portal vein, is far less intrusive than transplantation of the whole liver and could be performed on severely ill patients with relatively low risk. In the presence of normal host liver architecture, the transplanted cells integrate into the host liver, providing considerable restorative potential. Because the native liver is not removed, the transplanted hepatocytes need only improve some of the functions of the failing liver and need not replace all hepatic functions. Although clinical trials of hepatocyte transplantation have demonstrated the long-term safety of the procedure, only partial correction of metabolic disorders has been achieved, and the degree to which donor hepatocytes have restored failing livers has not been adequate to circumvent the need for organ replacement.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

5

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15201
        • Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 21 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients will have life-threatening liver-based metabolic disorders who are candidates for organ transplantation where hepatocyte transplantation is considered theoretically curative.
  • In addition to child subjects less than 18 years of age, for purposes of this protocol, adults up to age 21 years will be enrolled since this is the upper age limit of patients which are seen at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with liver based metabolic disorders not theoretically treatable with organ transplantation.

  • Subjects who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this protocol:

    1. Subject has active malignancy.
    2. Subject has allergy to immunosuppression medications that are required post transplant procedure for the prevention of rejection.
    3. Subject has sepsis, pneumonia, other active infection or other secondary life-threatening organ dysfunction.
    4. Significant liver fibrosis determined by biopsy (if clinically indicated). Significant liver fibrosis will be defined by the Ishak Staging, Stage 5: bridges with occasional nodules.
    5. Subject is pregnant or breastfeeding.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Hepatocyte Transplantation
See Below
Drug: human hepatocyte transplantation

Transplantation of hepatocytes into the liver will be through the portal vein. The portal vein will be accessed transhepatically, by umbilical vein, or surgically by a peripheral mesenteric vein.

The subject will be evaluated de novo and if they are a candidate for orthotopic liver transplantation they will receive the transplant. Even if the subject receives the hepatocyte transplant and it does not work, they will be evaluated for orthotopic liver transplantation as if they never received the hepatocyte transplant.

If at 6 months we see an improvement in disease, we will recommend a re-transplantation with a goal of complete correction of disease and until the subject is no longer required to be a candidate for organ transplantation. Subjects will be re-evaluated every 6 months for re-transplantation. Subjects will remain on the waiting list for organ transplantation. Further radiation therapy will not be needed prior to re-transplantation.

Other Names:
  • hepatocyte transplant
Radiation: Preparative Radiation Therapy
Just prior to the hepatocyte transplant, a portion of the right hepatic lobe comprising between 35-50% of the entire liver volume will be irradiated to a dose of 7.5-10 Gy in a single fraction using a linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiosurgery system with intensity-modulated radiation therapy planning (IMRT).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Improvement in enzyme physiologic function at 6 months
Time Frame: 6 months post hepatocyte transplant
After infusing donor allogeneic hepatocytes through the portal vein following preparative hepatic irradiation, improvement in enzyme physiologic function will be assessed at 6 months.
6 months post hepatocyte transplant

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ira Fox

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ira J Fox, MD, University of Pittsburgh

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 26, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

May 2, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 7, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2022

Last Verified

December 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PRO09040497

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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