NCT03945487

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment for Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis

Safety and Efficacy of Human Unbilical Cord Derived-mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment for Patients With Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Beijing 302 Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 69 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Decompensated liver cirrhosis is a life-threatening chronic liver disease with high mortality. Liver transplantation is the only option that can improve the survival of these patients; however, this procedure is associated with several limitations, such as the severe shortage of donor livers, long waiting lists, multiple complications, and high cost. Our and other previous studies have demonstrated that marrow bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) or unbilical cord derived MSC (UC-MSC) infusion is clinically safe and could improve liver function in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. However, the long-term outcomes of MSC infusion have not been reported until now. This prospective and randomized controlled study examined the longer-term safety and efficacy of UC-MSC in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.

Detailed description

Liver cirrhosis represents a late stage of progressive hepatic fibrosis characterized by the formation and accumulation of an extracellular matrix, which leads to the progressive distortion of the hepatic architecture. In China, the most important cause of liver cirrhosis is chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Liver cirrhosis usually progresses irreversibly into advanced stage, such as a decompensated stage which is characterized by a series of clinical manifestations, including ascites, variceal hemorrhage, and hepatic encephalopathy with high mortality. Liver transplantation is the only option that can improve the survival of these decompensated liver cirrhosis patients; however, this procedure is associated with several limitations, such as the severe shortage of donor livers, long waiting lists, multiple complications, and high cost. Therefore, it is urgent to find a safe and effective therapeutic approach to decompensated liver cirrhosis. Animal models have shown that bone marrow-derived MSC (BM-MSC) can ameliorate liver fibrosis and reverse fulminant hepatic failure. In clinical, autologous BM-MSC have significantly improved liver function in patients with liver cirrhosis. A recent research also found that autologous BM-MSC therapy safely improved histological fibrosis and liver function in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Allogeneic MSC therapy, such as umbilical cord-derived MSC (UC-MSC), have shown to be safe and beneficial for the patients with liver cirrhosis caused by autoimmune diseases. Our previous studies showed that infusions of UC-MSC significantly improved liver function in decompensated liver cirrhosis and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients and increased the survival rate in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patients. However, the single-center clinical study, the relative small size of the patient cohorts, absence of evaluation on long-term efficacy prevent firm conclusions being made with regard to the safety and efficacy of this treatment in liver diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how UC-MSC can improve the liver function, and the incidence of serious complications in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis through a multi-center clinical study.

Conditions

• Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BIOLOGICAL	umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell	Taken a dose of 1.0\*10E6 UC-MSC/kg body weight intravenously three times at 3-week intervals, in addition to comprehensive treatment.
OTHER	Comprehensive treatment	1. All patients received anti-HBV treatment with NAs (entecavir (ETV), tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), or tenofovir alafenamide (TAF)). 2. Strategies based on targeting abnormalities in gut-liver axis by antibiotic administration (i.e. rifaximin), improving the disturbed systemic circulatory function (i.e. longterm albumin administration), decreasing the inflammatory state (i.e. statins), and reducing portal hypertension (i.e. beta-blockers).

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-05-20
• Primary completion: 2021-12-30
• Completion: 2023-12-30
• First posted: 2019-05-10
• Last updated: 2019-05-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China