Last reviewed · How we verify

NCT04363424

Alcohol Biomarker Study

Status unknown Last updated 27 April 2020
What this trial tests

trial in Alcoholic Cirrhosis in 191 participants. Status unknown.

Timeline
1 April 2020
Primary endpoint
1 July 2021
1 August 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsorMaastricht University Medical Center
StatusStatus unknown
Study typeOBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment191
Start date1 April 2020
Primary completion1 July 2021
Estimated completion1 August 2021
Sites1 location across Netherlands

Conditions studied

Sponsor

Maastricht University Medical Center

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Alcoholic Cirrhosis. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Objective: To validate ethyl glucuronide in scalp hair, fingernail and urine as a biomarker for alcohol use in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Background: Alcoholic cirrhosis is a leading indication for liver transplantation in abstinent patients. However, the assessment of alcohol use remains a daily diagnostic challenge. Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is the most promising biomarker for the detection of alcohol use. EtG can be both a short-term (urinary EtG) and long-term biomarker (scalp hair and nail EtG). Although EtG is synthetized in the hepatocyte, the validation of these biomarkers and their proposed cut-off values is not present or scarce in patients with cirrhosis, impeding their widespread clinical use. Therefore, the investigators will assess the diagnostic accuracy of EtG in scalp hair, fingernail and urine in a cohort of patients with cirrhosis. In addition, the investigators will apply a new mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) method to visualize the distribution of EtG in scalp hair, allowing a visual chronological assessment of alcohol intake based on a single hair strand. Methods: Blood, proximal scalp hair, fingernail samples and urine will be collected from patients with alcoholic cirrhosis at the Maastricht University Medical Center. Alcohol intake in the previous 3 months will be questioned using the Timeline Followback method. The diagnostic accuracy of hair EtG (analyzed with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-MSI and routine gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS)), fingernail and urinary EtG (both GC-MS/MS) for moderate and excessive alcohol use will be assessed in a validation cohort. Secondly, the investigators will assess the diagnostic potential of these EtG biomarkers in a clinical application group of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis undergoing screening for liver transplantation. Anticipated results: The combination of different EtG biomarkers allows accurate assessment of abstinence and alcohol use in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and therefore can be implemented in the daily care of liver patients.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

  1. Phosphatidylethanol and ethyl glucuronide to categorize alcohol consumption in alcohol-related cirrhosis.
    Vanlerberghe BTK, Dumitrascu C, den Eede NV, Neels H, et al · · 2025 · cited 5× · PMID 40677698 · DOI 10.1016/j.jhepr.2025.101433

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Currently open trials in the same condition.

Other Maastricht University Medical Center trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

Verify against primary sources

Data sources for this page

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT04363424.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing