SAN ANTONIO – Years ago, a local doctor started studying fatty liver disease, which is prevalent in the Hispanic population in San Antonio.
KSAT reported on the issue and told the public about a need for study participants.
950 people quickly called the number to participate in the study, which allowed the research team to finally begin working on a drug to possibly cure the disease.
Fatty liver disease is the number one cause of liver transplantation in the United States today, and right now there’s no treatment or cure.
“Too much fat accumulates in the liver. It causes inflammation, fibrosis, inflammation, hepatitis fibrosis as cirrhosis leads to terrible things, cancer and death, etc.,” said Dr. Sherwyn Schwartz, an endocrinology consultant for research firm ERG.
Schwartz spent decades doing research to better diabetes care in San Antonio and came out of retirement to work on fatty liver disease. He is now leading worldwide research on the disease in San Antonio.
Three years ago, Schwartz did an interview on KSAT showing a simple 10-minute scan that allows people to see if they have fatty liver disease and exactly how much of it.
“And we found, believe it or not, with random people coming in, 70% of people coming through here had significant liver disease. Significant means 70% of the liver contained some fat,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said previous studies have shown there’s a genetic defect prevalent in Hispanic people, namely Mexican-Americans, that makes it more likely they’ll get the disease. That defect is exacerbated when combined with poor diet and little exercise.
“We found a lot of people with fatty liver disease. We found many of these people have the genetic defect. And now we’re working on the drug,” he said.
It would be the first-ever drug to prevent fatty liver disease.
“Where basically people will get a panel looking for genetic defects. They have this defect, they’ll go on this drug and it does away with the genetic effect that causes this fatty liver disease,” Schwartz said.
The local team is in the early stages of research that could take years.
“It could be a cure. We can’t promise anything, but at least it’s a start. It’s something. Right now we have nothing,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz is calling on San Antonio again. He and his team are looking for more people to get scanned to participate in this upcoming clinical trial for a possible drug to cure this disease.
He said patients will be compensated for their time and travel.
To learn more or sign up, call 210-949-0807 or click here.