National Collaborative Centre for Hepatic Regenerative Medicine (NC-CHRM): Phase I Study on Safety and Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem-Cell (MSC) Therapy in Non-Viral Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF)

National Collaborative Centre for Hepatic Regenerative Medicine (NC-CHRM): To Study the Safety and Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem-Cell Therapy in the Management of Non-viral ACLF Patients: Phase-I Clinical Study

Liver disease deaths are rising, but transplants remain scarce in India. With over 100,000 needed annually and only ~2,500 performed, non-transplant options are urgently needed. Regenerative therapy, especially MSCs, shows promise but lacks validation, particularly for non-viral Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF). The proposed NC-CHRM aims to develop and validate MSC-based therapy to promote native liver regeneration and offer a safe, effective, transplant-free treatment.

The incidence of deaths from chronic liver diseases (CLD) and cirrhosis are rapidly increasing globally, including India. Liver transplant is the only curative option. Unfortunately, transplant is often not feasible. There is a need for nearly 100,000 liver transplants every year in India, though, only about 2,500 transplants are being done at present across the country. There is therefore, a huge unmet need of developing non-transplant options for chronic liver disease patients. In this regard emerging science of regenerative therapy holds great promises but therapeutic benefit of these therapies is limited due to lack of clinical validation.

Novelty: Liver failure is failure of regeneration hence, potentiating native liver repair and regeneration can serve as potential non-transplant approaches. Others and the investigators have shown in experimental studies that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can improve hepatic regeneration. MSC therapy trials in decompensated cirrhosis and viral ACLF in Korea, China and Japan have shown promise but their utility in non-viral ACLF is limited. In the proposed National Collaborative Centre for Hepatic Regenerative Medicine (NC-CHRM) the investigators will use this novel regenerative medicine approaches MSC for management of acute liver failure in non-viral ACLF to develop safe and effective regenerative therapy clinical protocol for transplant free management of liver failure in cirrhosis. Using integrated cellular, molecular and functional analysis the investigators will also establish their mechanism of action and identify biomarker to access therapeutic response.

Inclusion Criteria:

• ACLF patients with Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) >18 or APASL ACLF Research Consortium (AARC) grade 2 or more with (no or single extrahepatic organ dysfunction or failure having no option of liver transplant).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age <18 or >65 yrs
• Patients with active sepsis
• Patients with hepatic venous outflow tract obstruction (HVOTO) or Extrahepatic portal vein obstruction (EHPVO)
• Hepatocellular carcinoma (beyond Milan) or any extrahepatic malignancy
• Active bleed (mucosal or variceal) or severe coagulopathy (platelets <20,000 or INR>4)
• Patients with refractory shock requiring norepinephrine >0.5ug/kg/min
• Patients with severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) with Pa02/Fi02 <150
• Patients with retroviral infections
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Viral etiology of liver disease
• Co-existent Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV
• Chronic kidney disease
• Multiorgan failure or disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
• Patients improving on standard medical treatment
• Patients on immunosuppressive medications
• Pregnancy or active breastfeeding
• Known severe cardiopulmonary diseases (structural or valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, coronary pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease)
• Lack of informed consent