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Characteristics and Mechanism of Liver Injury in 2019 Coronavirus Disease
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Characteristics and Mechanism of Liver Injury in 2019 Coronavirus Disease
Jie Li1 and Jian-Gao*,2,3
1 Department of Infectious Disease, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Ji’nan, Shandong, China
2 Department of Gastroenterology, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
3 Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai, China
*Correspondence to: Jian-Gao Fan, Department of Gastroenterology, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai 200092, China. Tel: + 86-21-2507-7340 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology 2020;8(1):13-17 DOI: 10.14218/JCTH.2020.00019
Received: March 9, 2020 Accepted: March 15, 2020 Published online: March 30, 2020
Abstract
An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (2019 coronavirus disease, COVID-19) since December 2019, from Wuhan, China, has been posing a significant threat to global human health. The clinical features and outcomes of Chinese patients with COVID-19 have been widely reported. Increasing evidence has witnessed the frequent incident liver injury in COVID-19 patients, and it is often manifested as transient elevation of serum aminotransferases; however, the patients seldom have liver failure and obvious intrahepatic cholestasis, unless pre-existing advanced liver disease was present. The underlying mechanisms of liver injury in cases of COVID-19 might include psychological stress, systemic inflammation response, drug toxicity, and progression of pre-existing liver diseases. However, there is insufficient evidence for SARS-CoV-2 infected hepatocytes or virus-related liver injury in COVID-19 at present. The clinical, pathological and laboratory characteristics as well as underlying pathophysiology and etiology of liver injury in COVID-19 remain largely unclear. In this review, we highlight these important issues based on the recent developments in the field, for optimizing the management and treatment of liver injury in Chinese patients with COVID-19.
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Liver injury, Clinical characteristics, Mechanism
Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology 2020 vol. 8, 13-17 [ Html ] [ PDF Full-text ]
© The Authors 2020. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license.
