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

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.

Fried MW, Kroner BL, Preiss LR, Wilhelmsen K, Goedert JJ; Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study. Hemophilic siblings with chronic hepatitis C: Familial aggregation of spontaneous and treatment-related viral clearance. Gastroenterology. 2006 Sep;131(3):757-64.

Conjeevaram HS, Fried MW, Jeffers LJ, Terrault NA, Wiley-Lucas TE, Afdhal N, Brown RS, Belle SH, Hoofnagle JH, Kleiner DE, Howell CD; Virahep-C Study Group. Peginterferon and ribavirin treatment in African American and Caucasian American patients with hepatitis C genotype 1. Gastroenterology. 2006 Aug;131(2):470-7.

Parsons TD, Tucker KA, Hall CD, Robertson WT, Eron JJ, Fried MW, Robertson KR. Neurocognitive functioning and HAART in HIV and hepatitis C virus co-infection. AIDS. 2006 Aug 1;20(12):1591-5.

Zacks S, Beavers K, Theodore D, Dougherty K, Batey B, Shumaker J, Galanko J, Shrestha R, Fried MW. Social stigmatization and hepatitis C virus infection. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2006 Mar;40(3):220-4.

Perrillo RP, Gish RG, Peters M, Keeffe EB, Alberti A, Buti M, Cooksley WG, Fried MW, Hadziyannis SJ, Liaw YF, Naoumov NV, Schiff ER, Thio CL, Tsai N, Schalm S. Chronic hepatitis B: a critical appraisal of current approaches to therapy. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2006 Feb;4(2):233-48.

Russo MW, Firpi RJ, Nelson DR, Schoonhoven R, Shrestha R, Fried MW. Early hepatic stellate cell activation is associated with advanced fibrosis after liver transplantation in recipients with hepatitis C. Liver Transpl. 2005 Oct;11(10):1235-41.

Russo MW, Galanko JA, Shrestha R, Fried MW, Watkins P. Liver transplantation for acute liver failure from drug induced liver injury in the United States. Liver Transpl. 2004 Aug;10(8):1018-23.

Russo MW, Galanko J, Beavers K, Fried MW, Shrestha R. Patient and graft survival in hepatitis C recipients after adult living donor liver transplantation in the United States. Liver Transpl. 2004 Mar;10(3):340-6.

Fried MW. The NIH roadmap for medical research: bypassing detours. Gastroenterology. 2004 Feb;126(2):392.

Russo MW, Fried MW. Guidelines for stopping therapy in chronic hepatitis C. Curr Gastroenterol Rep. 2004 Feb;6(1):17-21.