# Clinical Resources for Alcoholic Hepatitis Investigations

> **NIH NIH R24** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $609,985

## Abstract

Project Summary
Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is an acute manifestation of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) often with a grave prognosis.
Despite the positive effects of corticosteroids treatment on short-term survival, this treatment is not ideal and
approximately half of patients still die after a short time period. A major unmet need in the study of acute
alcoholic hepatitis is the lack of a reliable animal model that mimics the entire spectrum of this disease in
humans. Because translational research based on human samples has a key role in the understanding of
mechanisms of alcoholic hepatitis, the collection of bio specimens from patients with severe AH could help
substantially in the design of new therapeutic strategies. Since most AH deaths occur within 2 months of onset,
early liver transplantation is attractive but controversial because of the historic requirement of 6-month
abstinence from alcohol. In 2012 following the French report we began a program for transplantation of
patients with acute AH at Johns Hopkins and have performed 20 such transplants with 95% 1 year survival,
results similar or superior to those reported in the NEJM. As few other centers and none in our region are
undertaking these cases we are a regional referral center for AH patients. Likewise, when these patients
undergo liver transplantation, a native hepatectomy is performed and their explanted liver serves as an
unusual resource for the study of AH. To promote innovation and translational research in the field, we are
seeking support to develop a clinical resource of severe alcoholic hepatitis that serve the alcohol research
community. With this R24 support, we will collect livers and data from patients with severe AH during
transplantation, and wedge biopsies from donor livers as controls. Specifically, we will isolate hepatocytes,
hepatic stellate cells, Kupffer cells, sinusoid endothelial cells and infiltrating lymphocytes from the explanted
liver. Support from bio preservation experts at the Johns Hopkins hospital will provide assistance in appropriate
sample processing and storage to ensure quality experimental results. We will establish a centralized database
of de-identified samples for the purpose of promoting access to otherwise unavailable specimens,
collaboration, efficiency, and progress towards a cure. In collaboration with experts from the High Throughput
Biology Center at Johns Hopkins, we will also utilize this resource to perform transcriptome and proteome
analysis and to test the hypothesis that dysregulation of protein kinases in the livers of AH patients may lead to
liver failure and unresponsiveness to corticosteroid therapy. Specific aims will include 1) creating a centralized
facility for collecting human samples from patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis to make them available for
our own research program as well as to any investigators requesting them; 2) generating transcriptome and
proteome databases from liver tissues in patients with se...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982730
- **Project number:** 5R24AA025017-05
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ZHAOLI SUN
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $609,985
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982730

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982730, Clinical Resources for Alcoholic Hepatitis Investigations (5R24AA025017-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982730. Licensed CC0.

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