# Alcoholic Hepatitis Consortia: an intramural/extramural collaboration to unravel genetic determinants

> **NIH NIH U01** · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · 2022 · $157,499

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT - SUPPLEMENT
NIAAA recognized the critical need to develop rationally-based therapies for alcoholic hepatitis (AH) and
established the Alcoholic Hepatitis Consortia (ASH U01) in 2012/2013, funding four independent consortia to
conduct clinical and translational studies in patients with moderate to severe alcoholic hepatitis. While each of
the four consortia developed independent clinical approaches, the collection of genetic material, as well as an
extensive phenotypic analysis of all patients, was a common theme amongst the four groups. In this U01,
which is an extramural/intramural collaboration with Dr. David Goldman in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics
(LNG) at NIAAA, we are combining the efforts of all four consortia, and the ongoing support from Dr. Bruce
Barton with the AlcHepNet Data Coordinating Center at UMASS, in order to leverage these important
biospecimens and clinical data into a single cohort large enough for investigations into the genetic
contributions to AH. In addition, whole exome sequence data, collected by the NIH/NIAAA Clinical Center, will
be available from ~800 heavy drinkers without liver disease to serve as an important control cohort. Specific
Aim 1: COMPLETED Whole exome sequencing (WES) of the DNA from patients with AH, as well as a
cohort of heavy drinking controls without liver disease: This aim is completed. WES was carried out in
years 1-3 by LNG and then data were transferred to Indiana University and processed through their data
cleaning pipeline Specific Aim 2: DELAYED START: Novel analytical approaches to determine genetic
risk for key determinants of AH: Our original plan was to begin analysis in Year 4. However, we lost time
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We incurred delays determining where and how to transfer and store the
data, with the eventual decision to store it at UMASS/MGHPCC. Getting access to the UMASS/MGHPCC
server was considerably delayed, related to most of the administrators working from home during the
pandemic. Similar administrative delays in year 4 occurred as we finalized all the MTAs/DUAs between
institutions; all the necessary permissions and access procedures just took much longer than usual during the
pandemic-limited work environment. Administrative Supplement Request: Because of these delays related
to the pandemic, we would like to request an Administrative Supplement to handle the increased cost for data
analysis in year 5 of our grant. By adding effort for PIs and their staff, we will be able to speed up the genomic
analysis of the data and make up for lost time during the pandemic. The plan for year 5 is to determine
genetics for susceptibility and severity of AH and publish a manuscript on the results. The goals of the
proposed supplement are well within the original Council-approved scope of the research and does not move
in new directions; the supplement will be used solely to make up for lost time in the analysis of the data during
year 4 of the grant...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10539673
- **Project number:** 3U01AA026264-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU
- **Principal Investigator:** Ramon Bataller
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $157,499
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-20 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10539673

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10539673, Alcoholic Hepatitis Consortia: an intramural/extramural collaboration to unravel genetic determinants (3U01AA026264-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10539673. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*