Cargando…

Efficacy of glutathione for the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: an open-label, single-arm, multicenter, pilot study

BACKGROUND: Glutathione plays crucial roles in the detoxification and antioxidant systems of cells and has been used to treat acute poisoning and chronic liver diseases by intravenous injection. This is a first study examining the therapeutic effects of oral administration of glutathione in patients...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Honda, Yasushi, Kessoku, Takaomi, Sumida, Yoshio, Kobayashi, Takashi, Kato, Takayuki, Ogawa, Yuji, Tomeno, Wataru, Imajo, Kento, Fujita, Koji, Yoneda, Masato, Kataoka, Koshi, Taguri, Masataka, Yamanaka, Takeharu, Seko, Yuya, Tanaka, Saiyu, Saito, Satoru, Ono, Masafumi, Oeda, Satoshi, Eguchi, Yuichiro, Aoi, Wataru, Sato, Kenji, Itoh, Yoshito, Nakajima, Atsushi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549431/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28789631
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12876-017-0652-3
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Glutathione plays crucial roles in the detoxification and antioxidant systems of cells and has been used to treat acute poisoning and chronic liver diseases by intravenous injection. This is a first study examining the therapeutic effects of oral administration of glutathione in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: The study was an open label, single arm, multicenter, pilot trial. Thirty-four NAFLD patients diagnosed using ultrasonography were prospectively evaluated. All patients first underwent intervention to improve their lifestyle habits (diet and exercise) for 3 months, followed by treatment with glutathione (300 mg/day) for 4 months. We evaluated their clinical parameters before and after glutathione treatment. We also quantified liver fat and fibrosis using vibration-controlled transient elastography. The primary outcome of the study was the change in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients finished the protocol. ALT levels significantly decreased following treatment with glutathione for 4 months. In addition, triglycerides, non-esterified fatty acids, and ferritin levels also decreased with glutathione treatment. Following dichotomization of ALT responders based on a median 12.9% decrease from baseline, we found that ALT responders were younger in age and did not have severe diabetes compared with ALT non-responders. The controlled attenuation parameter also decreased in ALT responders. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrates the potential therapeutic effects of oral administration of glutathione in practical dose for patients with NAFLD. Large-scale clinical trials are needed to verify its efficacy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN000011118 (date of registration: July 4, 2013).