Exercise Training Decreases Alcohol Consumption and Tissue Injury by an FGF21-dependent Mechanism
Study Overview
Status
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Alcohol use disorder is a major driver of continued liver injury in alcohol-related liver disease. Patients with ALD also commonly develop sarcopenia, impaired skeletal muscle function, fatigue, mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced exercise capacity, and physical frailty. Exercise may improve muscle and metabolic function and may also reduce alcohol craving and consumption. FGF21 has been proposed as a mechanistic link among exercise, skeletal muscle, liver injury, metabolism, and alcohol-related behavior.
This is a randomized, controlled, unblinded study of 30 adults with AUD/ALD. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to endurance exercise plus standard of care (EE+SOC) or standard of care alone (SOC). Participants assigned to EE+SOC will complete a 12-week home-based supervised cycling program three days per week, with a target of approximately 60 minutes per session and intensity adjusted for safety, tolerance, and beta-blocker use. Exercise sessions will be remotely monitored, and fitness testing will occur at Cleveland Clinic. Participants in the SOC arm will continue usual clinical care and their usual physical activity without the structured exercise intervention.
The study will assess alcohol consumption and craving; circulating and skeletal muscle FGF21; liver injury measures; exercise capacity and physical performance; body composition; fatigue; skeletal muscle metabolism and mitochondrial function; and exploratory transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, microbiome, amino acid, protein synthesis, TCA intermediate, and cell-signaling responses.
Study Type
Enrollment (Estimated)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Contact
- Name: Annette Bellar, PhD
- Phone Number: 216-445-6268
- Email: bellara@ccf.org
Study Contact Backup
- Name: Research Coordinator
- Phone Number: 216-445-6268
Study Locations
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Ohio
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Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
- Recruiting
- Cleveland Clinic
-
Principal Investigator:
- Srinivasan Dasarathy, MD
-
Contact:
- Annette Program Manager, PhD
- Phone Number: 216-445-6268
- Email: bellara@ccf.org
-
-
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
• Adults age 18 years or older, of either sex.
- Clinical diagnosis of alcohol use disorder (AUD) / alcohol-related liver disease (ALD).
- Meets NIAAA hazardous-drinking criteria: at least 7 drinks/week for women or 14 drinks/week for men for more than 6 months, with ongoing alcohol use within 2 months of evaluation.
- MELD score less than 21.
- Able to safely participate in exercise testing and endurance exercise.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- No concurrent renal, cardiac, pulmonary, cerebrovascular, or malignant illness that affects skeletal muscle mass; no diabetes mellitus; and no use of medications that affect skeletal muscle mass/protein turnover as described in the protocol, including anabolic steroids, high-dose corticosteroids, or anticoagulants.
Exclusion Criteria:
• Pedal edema above the ankle or grade 2 pedal edema.
- Liver transplant.
- Active malignancy.
- Gastrointestinal bleed within the previous 4 weeks.
- Hepatic encephalopathy within the previous 6 months.
- Grade 2 or greater active esophageal varices.
- Active infection.
- Large ascites by clinical and/or imaging criteria.
- Advanced cardiac disease (NYHA class 3 or 4) or advanced pulmonary disease (GOLD class 3 or 4).
- Use of medications affecting muscle protein turnover, including corticosteroids, or medications used to prevent clotting.
- Prior orthopedic surgery or chronic joint pain that, in the opinion of the PI, may inhibit participation.
- INR greater than 1.7 or platelet count less than 60,000/mL.
- Unable to provide informed consent; judged likely to be unable to perform exercise or unlikely to complete the study in the opinion of the investigators.
- End-stage kidney disease defined as eGFR less than 15 mL/min/1.73 m² or dialysis.
- Considered unsafe for exercise in the opinion of the PI.
- Failure to pass the exercise stress test.
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Treatment
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Endurance Exercise
Participants will receive standard of care and complete a 12-week supervised home-based endurance exercise program using a recumbent exercise bike.
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Stationary/recumbent cycling three days per week for approximately 60 minutes per session for 12 weeks.
Exercise intensity is targeted at approximately 60-70% heart rate reserve and adjusted for safety, tolerance, and beta-blocker use.
Sessions are remotely monitored by the study team.
Participants who cannot exercise continuously may use rest breaks and complete the prescribed exercise within the limits described in the protocol.
|
|
No Intervention: Standard of Care
Participants will continue usual clinical care and their current pattern of physical activity and will not participate in the structured endurance exercise intervention
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in Alcohol Consumption Measured by Timeline Follow Back (TLFB)
Time Frame: Baseline to 12 weeks
|
Alcohol consumption will be assessed using the Timeline Follow Back (TLFB).
The primary comparison is change over 12 weeks between the EE+SOC and SOC groups.
|
Baseline to 12 weeks
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in Alcohol Cravings Measured by the Penn Alcohol Cravings Scale (PACS)
Time Frame: Baseline to 12 weeks
|
Alcohol craving will be assessed using the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS).
The primary comparison is change over 12 weeks between the EE+SOC and SOC groups.
|
Baseline to 12 weeks
|
Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Srinivasan Dasarathy, MD, The Cleveland Clinic
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Estimated)
Primary Completion (Estimated)
Study Completion (Estimated)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- 26-528
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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