Profiles
Dr Ashwin Dhanda
Honorary Associate Professor in Hepatology
Peninsula Medical School (Faculty of Health)
I am a Consultant Hepatologist and Clinician Scientist with an interest in translational research relating to inflammatory liver diseases, particularly alcohol-related liver disease. I am part of a national MRC funded consortium aiming to minimise death from alcoholic hepatitis and am leading a workstream to validate a novel bioassay to measure response to glucocorticoid (steroid) therapy. I am seeking biomarkers of survival from alcohol-related liver disease including measures of immune function and circulating microbiome.
On a national level I lead the British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) Special Interest Group for alcohol-related liver disease (https://www.basl.org.uk/index.cfm/content/page/cid/35). This multidisciplinary group brings together active clinicians and researchers to develop national studies and trials in alcohol-related liver disease.
I am an active clinician as a Consultant Hepatologist and manage patients with acute and chronic liver disease at the South West Liver Unit at Derriford Hospital, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (https://www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/dhanda-a).
Qualifications
BSc (Hons), University of Edinburgh 2000
M BChB, University of Edinburgh 2003
MRCP, Royal College of Physicians of London 2006
PGCert Health Education, St George's University of London 2007
PhD, University of Bristol 2014
Roles on external bodies
Lead of British Association for the Study of the Liver Special Interest Group on alcohol-related liver disease
Topic Expert for NICE Clinical Guidelines Update Committee for Alcohol Use DisordersCommittee member of the British Society of Gastroenterology Liver Clinical Research Group
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
2021 'can quantitative fibrosis assessment be used to enhance prediction of outcomes in patients with alcohol-related liver disease?' ALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS 53, (1) 183-184 , DOI
2020 'Glucocorticoid treatment in patients with newly diagnosed immune thrombocytopenia switches CD14
++
CD16
+
intermediate monocytes from a pro‐inflammatory to an anti‐inflammatory phenotype' British Journal of Haematology 192, (2) 375-384 , DOI
2020 'Oxidative stress in alcohol-related liver disease' World Journal of Hepatology 12, (7) 332-349 , DOI
2019 'Intermediate Monocytes in Acute Alcoholic Hepatitis Are Functionally Activated and Induce IL-17 Expression in CD4+T Cells' The Journal of Immunology 203, (12) 3190-3198 , DOI
2019 'Baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts response to corticosteroids and is associated with infection and renal dysfunction in alcoholic hepatitis' Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 50, (4) 442-453 , DOI
2017 'Application of prognostic scores in the STOPAH trial: Discriminant function is no longer the optimal scoring system in alcoholic hepatitis' Journal of Hepatology 68, (3) 511-518 , DOI Open access
2020 'Effect of zinc treatment on clinical outcomes in patients with liver cirrhosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis' World Journal of Hepatology 12, (7) 389-398 , DOI
2016 'Development and validation of a novel bioassay to determine glucocorticoid sensitivity' Biomarker Research 4, 26-26 , DOI Open access
2015 'CD14++CD16+Monocytes Are Enriched by Glucocorticoid Treatment and Are Functionally Attenuated in Driving Effector T Cell Responses' The Journal of Immunology 194, (11) 5150-5160 , DOI
2015 'Glucocorticoid-resistant Th17 cells are selectively attenuated by cyclosporine A' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, (13) 4080-4085 , DOI
2015 'Immune dysfunction in acute alcoholic hepatitis' World Journal of Gastroenterology 21, (42) 11904-11904 , DOI
2014 'Development and validation of a tool to select patients for admission to medical short stay units' Clinical Medicine 14, (4) 371-375 , DOI
2014 'Long‐term outcome in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis can be reliably determined using an
in vitro
measure of steroid sensitivity' Hepatology 61, (3) 1099-1099 , DOI
2013 'UK wide survey on the prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis' Frontline Gastroenterology 5, (2) 103-110 , DOI
2013 'Is liver biopsy necessary in the management of alcoholic hepatitis?' World Journal of Gastroenterology 19, (44) 7825-7825 , DOI
2012 'Can endoscopy be avoided in the assessment of ulcerative colitis in clinical trials?' Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 18, (11) 2056-2062 , DOI
2012 'Basiliximab Does Not Increase Efficacy of Corticosteroids in Patients With Steroid-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis' Gastroenterology 143, (2) 356-364.e1 , DOI
2012 'Fragility fracture risk in cirrhosis: a comparison of the fracture risk assessment tool, British Society of Gastroenterology and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines' Frontline Gastroenterology 3, (4) 220-227 , DOI
2012 'Is primary biliary cirrhosis a steroid-sensitive autoimmune disease?' Hepatology Research 42, (6) 619-620 , DOI
2012 'Molecular targets in the treatment of alcoholic hepatitis' World Journal of Gastroenterology 18, (39) 5504-5504 , DOI
2011 'NFκB and glucocorticoid receptor activity in steroid resistance' Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction 32, (1) 29-35 , DOI
2020 'Trace element deficiency is highly prevalent and associated with infection and mortality in patients with alcoholic hepatitis' Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics , DOI Open access
2019 'Ex Vivo T Cell Cytokine Expression Predicts Survival in Patients with Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis' Gut and Liver , DOI Open access
2019 'Systematic review with meta‐analysis: high mortality in patients with non‐severe alcoholic hepatitis' Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics , DOI Open access
2017 'Infection does not increase long-term mortality in patients with acute severe alcoholic hepatitis treated with corticosteroids' World Journal of Gastroenterology 23, (11) 2052-2052 , DOI Open access
Conference Papers
2018 'Corticosteroid treatment is associated with a resolution of altered CD4+ T cell phenotype in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis' Elsevier BV S815-S815 , DOI
2017 'Variation in the use of corticosteroids for the treatment of acute severe alcoholic hepatitis in the post-STOPAH era: results of a UK national survey' Elsevier BV S345-S346 , DOI Open access
2016 'Sustained viral clearance of HCV with DAA treatment is associated with restoration of effector T cell phenotype' 745A-745A
Posters
'A NOVEL FUNCTIONAL BIOASSAY PREDICTS 90-DAY SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS' , DOI Open access
'Intermediate (CD14++CD16+) monocytes from patients with acute severe alcoholic hepatitis are activated and functionally similar to classical (CD14++CD16−) monocytes' , DOI