Harmful gut bacteria linked to alcohol-related liver damage
Official title: The role of pathobionts in alcoholic liver disease
Funded at VA San Diego Healthcare System · NIH-11212762 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work looks at whether certain harmful gut bacteria make liver disease worse in people who drink heavily.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | VA San Diego Healthcare System NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Diego, United States) |
| Project start | October 1, 2018 |
| Project end | September 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01BX004594-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11212762 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with alcohol use disorder or alcoholic hepatitis, particularly Veterans receiving care at the San Diego VA who can provide stool and blood samples, are the most suitable candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without alcohol-related liver disease or whose liver problems arise from unrelated causes are unlikely to benefit directly from this research.
What this research studies
Researchers compare gut bacteria in stool from people with alcoholic hepatitis, people with alcohol use disorder, and people without liver disease using metagenomic sequencing. They focus on an E. coli gene called kpsM that helps the bacteria hide from liver immune cells and has been linked to worse outcomes. Lab experiments study how kpsM-positive E. coli interacts with liver immune cells and use germ-free mice given patient stool to see if those bacteria worsen alcohol-related liver injury. If you join, you may be asked to provide stool and clinical samples to help link your gut microbes to liver inflammation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new treatments that target harmful gut bacteria to reduce liver inflammation and improve outcomes for people with alcohol-related liver disease.
How similar studies have gone: Other studies have connected microbiome changes to alcoholic liver disease and animal work supports a bacterial role, but targeting specific bacterial virulence genes like kpsM is a more recent and less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
-
VA San Diego Healthcare System
San Diego, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Schnabl, Bernd G. — VA San Diego Healthcare System
- Study coordinator: Schnabl, Bernd G.
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Microbiome and Innate Immune Response in Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
Researchers are studying how gut bacteria and the body's first-line immune defenses contribute to liver damage from alcohol, with a focus on how a specific bacteria and its toxins affect disease severity.
-
Lipotoxicity and Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
This project studies how fatty acids cause liver cell damage in alcohol-related liver disease to help develop new treatments.
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NNMT as a Target to Treat Alcoholic Liver Disease
A study to see if blocking an enzyme called NNMT can help people with alcoholic liver disease.
-
How gut fungi may drive alcohol-related liver damage
Researchers are looking at whether specific fungi in the gut make liver damage from heavy drinking worse in people with alcohol-related liver disease.
-
Heat shock protein 90 and alcohol-related liver disease: how macrophages fuel inflammation
This project looks at how a cellular stress protein, HSP90, affects liver inflammation in people with alcohol-related liver disease by focusing on macrophages.
-
Why alcohol-related liver disease can come back after a transplant
Looking at whether an enzyme called CerS6 helps fat build up in the liver and whether measuring CerS6 can help detect or predict return of alcohol-related liver disease before or after a liver transplant.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.