UC San Diego launches research center for NAFLD, NASH

Led by Rohit Loomba, MD, MHSc, professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology, University of California San Diego, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine announced it has launched a new nonalcoholic fatty liver disease research center to help better understand the disease and develop treatments.

Loomba, director of the new research center, will work with fellow researchers to accelerate efforts to develop noninvasive biomarkers for early diagnosis of NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and potential therapies, according to a press release from UC San Diego Health.

Rohit Loomba

There are currently no approved therapies for the treatment of NAFLD and NASH.

“The goal of our research program is to prevent the progression of NAFLD to cirrhosis, and find better ways to treat the condition,” Loomba said in a press release. “In pharmacology, molecular medicine, physician training, clinical trial design and drug development, scientists and researchers here have been working on NALFD and related diseases for a long time. But this is a major step. It creates a single entity able to address every aspect of a global disease that didn’t even exist 35 years ago.”

Loomba and colleagues at the center have already created a diagnostic tool using magnetic resonance imaging that avoids the current requirement of a liver biopsy for assessment of treatment response in early phase clinical trials, according to the release, as well as designed and conducted several clinical trials for NAFLD and NASH.

“This is a key advance because it means you can conduct clinical trials with a tool that is effective but noninvasive and get an early signal of efficacy,” Loomba said in the release.

In addition, the NAFLD research center will hopefully attract collaborations with biotechnology industry and pharmaceutical companies that have a biomarker development program or are looking for expertise in innovative clinical trial design, according to Loomba.

“This center will act as an epicenter for NASH clinical drug development and as a catalyst in biomarker discovery, validation and their application in clinical practice,” David Brenner, MD, dean of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, said in the release.

Nearly 50% of people with obesity are believed to have NAFLD, which is most common among Hispanics and Asians, according to the release.

Disclosure: Loomba and Brenner are employed by UC San Diego.