Hepatitis CNCT00368225
Transplant-Related Accelerated Progression of Hepatitis C
An observational study of Hepatitis C and Cirrhosis, run by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) at 3 sites in United States.
Trial summary
This study will explore why severe scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) develops so rapidly in hepatitis C-infected patients who have had a liver transplant and possibly in kidney transplant patients as well. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause cirrhosis in about 20 percent of infected persons. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Hepatitis C, Cirrhosis
- How many people
- 100 participants
- Where
- 3 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- 22 Jun 2006to 22 Jan 2009
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- To fulfill criteria for study entry, the patient must:
- be 18 years of age or older.
- have detectable HCV RNA
- require orthotopic liver transplantation for chronic hepatitis C induced cirrhosis or require renal transplantation for end-stage kidney disease
- have a MELD score greater than 18 (for liver transplant patients) or have an otherwise high probability of receiving a liver or kidney transplant within six months of enrollment based on assessment by the clinical transplant team at each hospital.
- be able/willing to travel to the collaborating center for blood sampling prior to liver or kidney transplantation, and at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 weeks after transplantation and then bi-annually until the end of the study at 5 years
- be willing to have study-related liver biopsies at 3 months, and then 1, 3 and 5 years after transplantation
- provide informed consent.
Who cannot join
- To fulfill criteria for study entry, the patient must NOT:
- be HIV or Hepatitis B virus (HBsAg) positive
- receive a liver graft from an anti-HCV antibody positive or HBV core positive donor
- have other forms of liver disease including primary biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune hepatitis, hemochromatosis and Wilson's Disease
- have hepatocellular carcinoma if any single lesion is 5 cm. or more or if there are 3 or more lesions exceeding 3 cm.
- be on immunomodulatory medications such as corticosteroids within four weeks of collection of blood for pre-transplant baseline laboratory testing
- have been diagnosed with any hereditary or acquired immunodeficiency state prior to liver or kidney transplantation
Trial locations and contacts
3 sites in 1 country.
United States3 sites
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
Inova Fairfax Hospital
Falls Church, Virginia, 22042
Georgetown University
Washington D.C., District of Columbia, 20007-2197
About this study
Official title: Transplant-Related Accelerated Progression of Hepatitis C (TRAP-C)
This study will explore why severe scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) develops so rapidly in hepatitis C-infected patients who have had a liver transplant and possibly in kidney transplant patients as well. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause cirrhosis in about 20 percent of infected persons. Generally, it takes 20 years or more for cirrhosis to develop. After liver transplantation, however, patients may develop cirrhosis in as little as 5 years. Cirrhosis does not develop as rapidly in kidney transplant patients, but it may develop faster than in people who do not undergo transplantation. The study will look at the possible role of immune-suppressing medications given to liver and kidney transplant patients in increasing the severity of hepatitis C infection and in speeding the cirrhotic process.
Patients 18 years of age and older with chronic HCV infection who require a liver transplant for end-stage liver disease or a kidney transplant for kidney failure may be eligible for this study. Liver transplant patients are recruited from the Inova Fairfax Liver Transplant Center in Fairfax, Virginia, and from the Georgetown University Medical Center Liver Transplant Institute in Washington, D.C. Kidney transplant patients are recruited from the Transplantation Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Read more
Participants undergo the following procedures:
- Regular care: As part of their regular transplant-related treatment, patients have a medical history, physical examinations and blood draws before their transplant and on regularly scheduled visits after the transplant.
- Blood draws for research: Special blood tests are done to measure the immune response to HCV. They measure the amount of HCV in the blood, the number of HCV strains present and how they change over time and the HCV antibodies in the blood.
- Liver biopsies: This procedure is done at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years after the transplant to determine the extent of scarring of the liver and to study the immune responses within the liver, the proportion of liver cells infected with HCV and the presence of scar-producing cells. The biopsy is done during a 1- to 2-day inpatient hospital stay. The patients are given a sedative medication through a vein before the procedure. The skin over the biopsy site is numbed and the biopsy needle is passed rapidly into and out of the liver to collect a small sample of liver tissue for study.
- Apheresis: This procedure is done to collect a large number of white blood cells needed to test the immune response to the HCV. On the day before each liver biopsy, blood is drawn through a needle from a vein in one arm and run through a machine that separates and collects the white cells. The red cells and plasma are returned to the patient's body through the same needle or a second needle in the other arm.
Read the detailed description
Nearly all patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related end-stage liver disease who receive an orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) develop hepatitis C reinfection of the graft after transplantation. Most of these patients will progress to chronic hepatitis and 20-30% will experience a rapid progression to cirrhosis. It is unclear why it generally takes 20 or more years for progression to cirrhosis after the initial HCV infection, but as little as five years after OLT. Additionally, it is paradoxical that hepatitis C, which is thought to be immune-mediated, should advance more rapidly in patients who are immune suppressed. Rapid fibrosis progression post-transplantation is likely related to complex interactions between viral factors, host immune responses and induction and maintenance of immunosuppression for the prevention of graft rejection.
This study has been designed as an observational, hypothesis-generating pilot study of patients with chronic hepatitis C requiring organ transplantation and concomitant immunosuppression. Patients who require a liver-transplant for chronic hepatitis C-related end-stage liver disease and patients with hepatitis C who require a kidney transplant for renal failure will be enrolled and followed for up to five years. Virologic, immunologic and intrahepatic parameters will be correlated with the level of immunosuppression, degree of fibrosis, progression to cirrhosis and liver-related deaths in study subjects. The objectives of this study are to: 1) determine the proportion of patients with hepatitis C that progress to bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis at three and five years after liver or kidney transplantation (rapid-progressors); 2) compare virologic, host-immune and intrahepatic factors in rapid-progressors to non-progressors and slow progressors; 3) characterize the relationship between general and HCV-specific immune responses and the extent of liver fibrosis; and 4) develop a predictive model that discriminates between rapid-progressors and non- or slow-progressors.
- Conditions
- Hepatitis C, Cirrhosis
- Keywords
- Viral Hepatitis, Hepatitis C, HCV, Liver Transplant, Renal Transplant, Kidney Transplant
- Medical subject headings
- Hepatitis C, Fibrosis
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Aug 2006 (estimated)
- Study start22 Jun 2006
- Study completion22 Jan 2009
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Hepatitis CStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 100 participants
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
- Sponsor type
- US National Institutes of Health
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00368225
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 060193
- Other IDs
- 06-CC-0193
- Status last verified
- 22 Jan 2009
- First submitted
- 23 Aug 2006
- Last updated
- 2 Jul 2017
- Results posted
- No
Publications
Alter MJ, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan OV, McQuillan GM, Gao F, Moyer LA, Kaslow RA, Margolis HS. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. N Engl J Med. 1999 Aug 19;341(8):556-62. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199908193410802.
PubMed 10451460Davis GL. Chronic hepatitis C and liver transplantation. Rev Gastroenterol Disord. 2004 Winter;4(1):7-17.
PubMed 15029106Sheiner PA, Schluger LK, Emre S, Thung SN, Lau JY, Guy SR, Schwartz ME, Miller CM. Retransplantation for recurrent hepatitis C. Liver Transpl Surg. 1997 Mar;3(2):130-6. doi: 10.1002/lt.500030205.
PubMed 9346726
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 2 Jul 2017. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Transplant-Related Accelerated Progression of Hepatitis C (TRAP-C)
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00368225
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 060193
- Conditions
- Hepatitis C, Cirrhosis
- Keywords
- Viral Hepatitis, Hepatitis C, HCV, Liver Transplant, Renal Transplant, Kidney Transplant
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 100 participants
- Lead sponsor
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)US National Institutes of Health
- Study start
- 22 Jun 2006
- Study completion
- 22 Jan 2009
- First posted
- 24 Aug 2006 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study will explore why severe scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) develops so rapidly in hepatitis C-infected patients who have had a liver transplant and possibly in kidney transplant patients as well. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause cirrhosis in about 20 percent of infected persons. Generally, it takes 20 years or more for cirrhosis to develop. After liver transplantation, however, patients may develop cirrhosis in as little as 5 years. Cirrhosis does not develop as rapidly in kidney transplant patients, but it may develop faster than in people who do not undergo transplantation. The study will look at the possible role of immune-suppressing medications given to liver and kidney transplant patients in increasing the severity of hepatitis C infection and in speeding the cirrhotic process.
Patients 18 years of age and older with chronic HCV infection who require a liver transplant for end-stage liver disease or a kidney transplant for kidney failure may be eligible for this study. Liver transplant patients are recruited from the Inova Fairfax Liver Transplant Center in Fairfax, Virginia, and from the Georgetown University Medical Center Liver Transplant Institute in Washington, D.C. Kidney transplant patients are recruited from the Transplantation Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Participants undergo the following procedures:
- Regular care: As part of their regular transplant-related treatment, patients have a medical history, physical examinations and blood draws before their transplant and on regularly scheduled visits after the transplant.
- Blood draws for research: Special blood tests are done to measure the immune response to HCV. They measure the amount of HCV in the blood, the number of HCV strains present and how they change over time and the HCV antibodies in the blood.
- Liver biopsies: This procedure is done at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years after the transplant to determine the extent of scarring of the liver and to study the immune responses within the liver, the proportion of liver cells infected with HCV and the presence of scar-producing cells. The biopsy is done during a 1- to 2-day inpatient hospital stay. The patients are given a sedative medication through a vein before the procedure. The skin over the biopsy site is numbed and the biopsy needle is passed rapidly into and out of the liver to collect a small sample of liver tissue for study.
- Apheresis: This procedure is done to collect a large number of white blood cells needed to test the immune response to the HCV. On the day before each liver biopsy, blood is drawn through a needle from a vein in one arm and run through a machine that separates and collects the white cells. The red cells and plasma are returned to the patient's body through the same needle or a second needle in the other arm.
Detailed description
Nearly all patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related end-stage liver disease who receive an orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) develop hepatitis C reinfection of the graft after transplantation. Most of these patients will progress to chronic hepatitis and 20-30% will experience a rapid progression to cirrhosis. It is unclear why it generally takes 20 or more years for progression to cirrhosis after the initial HCV infection, but as little as five years after OLT. Additionally, it is paradoxical that hepatitis C, which is thought to be immune-mediated, should advance more rapidly in patients who are immune suppressed. Rapid fibrosis progression post-transplantation is likely related to complex interactions between viral factors, host immune responses and induction and maintenance of immunosuppression for the prevention of graft rejection.
This study has been designed as an observational, hypothesis-generating pilot study of patients with chronic hepatitis C requiring organ transplantation and concomitant immunosuppression. Patients who require a liver-transplant for chronic hepatitis C-related end-stage liver disease and patients with hepatitis C who require a kidney transplant for renal failure will be enrolled and followed for up to five years. Virologic, immunologic and intrahepatic parameters will be correlated with the level of immunosuppression, degree of fibrosis, progression to cirrhosis and liver-related deaths in study subjects. The objectives of this study are to: 1) determine the proportion of patients with hepatitis C that progress to bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis at three and five years after liver or kidney transplantation (rapid-progressors); 2) compare virologic, host-immune and intrahepatic factors in rapid-progressors to non-progressors and slow progressors; 3) characterize the relationship between general and HCV-specific immune responses and the extent of liver fibrosis; and 4) develop a predictive model that discriminates between rapid-progressors and non- or slow-progressors.
Study design
- Time perspective
- Prospective
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (8 listed)
- be 18 years of age or older.
- have detectable HCV RNA
- require orthotopic liver transplantation for chronic hepatitis C induced cirrhosis or require renal transplantation for end-stage kidney disease
- have a MELD score greater than 18 (for liver transplant patients) or have an otherwise high probability of receiving a liver or kidney transplant within six months of enrollment based on assessment by the clinical transplant team at each hospital.
- be able/willing to travel to the collaborating center for blood sampling prior to liver or kidney transplantation, and at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 weeks after transplantation and then bi-annually until the end of the study at 5 years
Key exclusion criteria (7 listed)
- be HIV or Hepatitis B virus (HBsAg) positive
- receive a liver graft from an anti-HCV antibody positive or HBV core positive donor
- have other forms of liver disease including primary biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune hepatitis, hemochromatosis and Wilson's Disease
- have hepatocellular carcinoma if any single lesion is 5 cm. or more or if there are 3 or more lesions exceeding 3 cm.
- be on immunomodulatory medications such as corticosteroids within four weeks of collection of blood for pre-transplant baseline laboratory testing
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Primary outcome
Not reported in the source record.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 2 Jul 2017.
- Background: PubMed 10451460Alter MJ, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan OV, McQuillan GM, Gao F, Moyer LA, Kaslow RA, Margolis HS. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. N Engl J Med. 1999 Aug 19;341(8):556-62. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199908193410802.
- Background: PubMed 15029106Davis GL. Chronic hepatitis C and liver transplantation. Rev Gastroenterol Disord. 2004 Winter;4(1):7-17.
- Background: PubMed 9346726Sheiner PA, Schluger LK, Emre S, Thung SN, Lau JY, Guy SR, Schwartz ME, Miller CM. Retransplantation for recurrent hepatitis C. Liver Transpl Surg. 1997 Mar;3(2):130-6. doi: 10.1002/lt.500030205.
Related trials for Hepatitis C
RecruitingObservational study
Evaluation of Patients With Liver Disease
Hepatitis D, Hepatitis C
Not yet recruitingObservational study
Elimination of Hepatitis C Virus Among Users of Substances
Hepatitis C in Substance Users
Not yet recruiting
Clinical Study to Evaluate the Performance of the INSTI® HCV Antibody Test for CLIA-Waived Use
HCV Infection
Not yet recruiting
Study to Evaluate the Performance of the INSTI® HCV Antibody Test for Point-of-Care Use in Individuals at Risk for HCV Infection or Presenting With Signs or Symptoms of HCV Infection
HCV Infection
Active, not recruitingPhase 4
People With CHC Who Achieved a Sustained Virological Response Following Therapy With Direct Acting Antiviral Agents
Diabetes Mellitus, Hepatitis C, Chronic
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
3 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Hepatitis C and Cirrhosis, run by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) at 3 sites in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 2 Jul 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 3 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00368225, which also lists 3 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 2 Jul 2017.