Faculty & Research

Michael W. Fried, M.D.

Professor of Medicine/Director
Hepatology, Department of Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Office | Room 1111 Bioinformatics, CB 7080

Phone | 1.919.966.2516

Email | michael_fried@med.unc.edu

Lab Website | Alcohol Abuse and Hepatitis C

Research Interests

Dr. Fried is studying patients with chronic hepatitis C in order to investigate the effects of alcohol consumption on disease progression. The underlying hypothesis is that alcohol accelerates the rate of liver fibrosis in hepatitis-infected livers through multiple mechanisms that can be individually measured in the laboratory. Studies will determine if chronic alcohol intake enhances the activation of Kupffer cells that increase inflammation of the liver.

Fried is planning a collaboration with David Brenner, M.D., investigator with the Center for Alcohol Studies, and with Bill Renn, director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment Program to determine if the progression of liver disease in hepatitis C can be reversed if patients receive counseling and treatment to promote abstinence from alcohol. His studies provide new hope in the treatment of alcohol-related diseases.

Recent Publications

Click for list of publications from PubMed

Pockros P, Nelson D, Godofsky E, Rodriguez-Torres M, Everson GT, Fried MW, Ghalib R, Harrison S, Nyberg L, Shiffman ML, Chan A, Hill G. High relapse rate seen at week 72 for patients treated with R1626 combination therapy. Hepatology. 2008 Oct;48(4):1349-50.

Reau N, Hadziyannis SJ, Messinger D, Fried MW, Jensen DM. Early predictors of anemia in patients with hepatitis C genotype 1 treated with peginterferon alfa-2a (40KD) plus ribavirin. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008 Aug;103(8):1981-8.

Fried MW, Jensen DM, Rodriguez-Torres M, Nyberg LM, Di Bisceglie AM, Morgan TR, Pockros PJ, Lin A, Cupelli L, Duff F, Wang K, Nelson DR. Improved outcomes in patients with hepatitis C with difficult-to-treat characteristics: randomized study of higher doses of peginterferon alpha-2a and ribavirin. Hepatology. 2008 Oct;48(4):1033-43.

Pockros PJ, Nelson D, Godofsky E, Rodriguez-Torres M, Everson GT, Fried MW, Ghalib R, Harrison S, Nyberg L, Shiffman ML, Najera I, Chan A, Hill G. R1626 plus peginterferon Alfa-2a provides potent suppression of hepatitis C virus RNA and significant antiviral synergy in combination with ribavirin. Hepatology. 2008 Aug;48(2):385-97.

Schrieber SJ, Wen Z, Vourvahis M, Smith PC, Fried MW, Kashuba AD, Hawke RL.   The pharmacokinetics of silymarin is altered in patients with hepatitis C virus and nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease and correlates with plasma caspase-3/7 activity. Drug Metab Dispos. 2008 Sep;36(9):1909-16.

Fried MW, Piratvisuth T, Lau GK, Marcellin P, Chow WC, Cooksley G, Luo KX, Paik SW, Liaw YF, Button P, Popescu M. HBeAg and hepatitis B virus DNA as outcome predictors during therapy with peginterferon alfa-2a for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B. Hepatology. 2008 Feb;47(2):428-34.

Feld JJ, Nanda S, Huang Y, Chen W, Cam M, Pusek SN, Schweigler LM, Theodore D, Zacks SL, Liang TJ, Fried MW.  Hepatic gene expression during treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin: Identifying molecular pathways for treatment response. Hepatology. 2007 Oct 10.

Wen Z, Dumas TE, Schrieber SJ, Hawke RL, Fried MW, Smith PC. Pharmacokinetics and Metabolic Profile of Free, Conjugated and Total Silymarin Flavonolignans in Human Plasma after Oral Administration of Milk Thistle Extract.
Drug Metab Dispos. 2007 Oct 3.

Smith SR, Wahed AS, Kelley SS, Conjeevaram HS, Robuck PR, Fried MW; Virahep-C Study Group. Assessing the validity of self-reported medication adherence in hepatitis C treatment. Ann Pharmacother. 2007 Jul;41(7):1116-23. Epub 2007 May 22.

Evon DM, Verma A, Dougherty KA, Batey B, Russo M, Zacks S, Shrestha R, Fried MW.  High deferral rates and poorer treatment outcomes for HCV patients with psychiatric and substance use comorbidities. Dig Dis Sci. 2007 Nov;52(11):3251-8.