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Published in Chapter:
Liver Injury in COVID-19 Patients: An Overview of the Current Evidence
Tiziano Balzano (Centre for Integrative Neuroscience A.C., University Hospital HM Puerta del Sur, Madrid, Spain), Omar El Hiba (FSJ, University Chouaib Doukkali, Morocco & Moroccan Society for Ethics and Animal Research (MoSEAR), Morocco), Natalia López-González del Rey (Centre for Integrative Neuroscience A.C., University Hospital HM Puerta del Sur, Madrid, Spain), Souad El Amine (Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco), and Kamal Smimih (Faculty of Sciences, University Chouaib Doukkali, Morocco)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8225-1.ch009
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) preferentially infects cells in the respiratory tract, but several studies have also demonstrated low levels of SARS-CoV-2 copies in the liver. The hypothesis that patients with COVID-19 may develop liver dysfunction is supported by findings showing abnormal liver test results in such patients, but the exact mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 induces liver damage remain unclear. Liver injury in COVID-19 patients has probably a multifactorial etiology including the rapid onset of a systemic pro-inflammatory state due to viral infection, the use of potentially hepatotoxic drugs, pneumonia-associated hypoxia, and the eventual direct injury of the liver by SARS-CoV-2. This chapter will discuss the potential pathophysiological mechanisms for SARS-CoV-2 hepatic tropism and an overview about the main biochemical and histopathological findings observed in liver from COVID-19 patients. Finally, the effects that this infection can produce in patients with chronic liver disease will be also discussed.