CLDF funds research fellowship into paediatric fatty liver disease

Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), the UK’s leading charity fighting childhood liver disease, is to fund a PhD student fellowship at the University of Surrey which will  look at the role of vitamin D in the progression of paediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), now recognised as the most common cause of  childhood liver disease in the UK.

The £74,500 award will fund a three year study, which will be led by Dr Bernadette Moore, a lecturer in molecular nutrition at the University of Surrey, who will be working in collaboration with Kings College Hospital Paediatric Liver Clinic.

“We are thrilled that CLDF have agreed to fund this project which will enable us to find out more about a disease which is affecting increasing numbers of UK children” commented Dr Moore. “The incidence of paediatric NAFLD has risen sharply in past three decades, affecting an estimated 3 – 9% of all children and up to 70% of obese children.

“Whilst we know that people in the UK have low level vitamin D status during the winter due to the lack of sunlight, children with fatty liver disease have been shown to have particularly low levels and this deficiency is associated with more severe liver disease. This project will examine the diet and specific genes that can affect vitamin D levels in UK children with liver disease.

“In addition, to try to understand how it is that vitamin D might be protecting the liver, we will test the response of liver cells to vitamin D treatment in the laboratory. In particular, we will measure the levels of certain molecules called micro RNAs. The results of this study will tell us if children with liver disease will benefit from getting more vitamin D in their diet or as a supplement and possibly identify molecules that can be targeted in the treatment of liver disease.”

Catherine Arkley, Chief Executive of CLDF, commented: “Supporting research is a vital area of our work as this is what gives young people and their families hope for a better future. Over the past 30 years CLDF has funded over £8m of research projects, encompassing clinical, laboratory based and social research, including previous studies carried out both by Dr Moore at University of Surrey and the Kings College Hospital paediatric team. We are delighted to be working with both teams again by funding this collaborative study which will be the first of its kind in the UK and which we hope will represent a key step forward in our understanding of NAFLD.”