A. Ortega-Alonso

Hepatotoxicity by Dietary Supplements: A Tabular Listing and Clinical Characteristics

Dietary supplements (DS) are extensively consumed worldwide despite unproven efficacy. The true incidence of DS-induced liver injury (DSILI) is unknown but is probably under-diagnosed due to the general belief of safety of these products. Reported cases of herbals and DS-induced liver injury are increasing worldwide. The aim of this manuscript is to report a tabular listing with a description of DS associated with hepatotoxicity as well as review the phenotype and severity of DSILI. Natural remedies related to hepatotoxicity can be divided into herbal product-induced liver injury and DS-induced liver injury. In this article, we describe different DS associated with liver injury, some of them manufactured DS containing several ingredients (Herbalife™ products, Hydroxycut™, LipoKinetix™, UCP-1 and OxyELITE™) while others have a single ingredient (green tea extract, linoleic acid, usnic acid, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine, vitamin A, Garcinia cambogia and ma huang). Additional DS containing some of the aforementioned ingredients implicated in liver injury are also covered. We have also included illicit androgenic anabolic steroids for bodybuilding in this work, as they are frequently sold under the denomination of DS despite being conventional drugs.

Distinct phenotype of hepatotoxicity associated with illicit use of anabolic androgenic steroids

We have observed an increase in hepatotoxicity (DILI) reporting related to the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) for bodybuilding.

Definition and risk factors for chronicity following acute idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury

BACKGROUND & AIMS Chronic outcome following acute idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is not yet defined. This prospective, long-term follow-up study aimed to analyze time to liver enzyme resolutions to establish the best definition and risk factors of DILI chronicity. METHODS 298 out of 850 patients in the Spanish DILI registry with no pre-existing disease affecting the liver and follow-up to resolution or ⩾1year were analyzed. Chronicity was defined as abnormal liver biochemistry, imaging test or histology one year after DILI recognition. RESULTS Out of 298 patients enrolled 273 (92%) resolved ⩽1year from DILI recognition and 25 patients (8%) were chronic. Independent risk factors for chronicity were older age [OR: 1.06, p=0.011], dyslipidemia [OR: 4.26, p=0.04] and severe DILI [OR: 14.22, p=0.005]. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (TB) median values were higher in the chronic group during follow-up. Values of ALP and TB >1.1 x upper limit of normal (xULN) and 2.8 xULN respectively, in the second month from DILI onset, were found to predict chronic DILI (p<0.001). Main drug classes involved in chronicity were statins (24%) and anti-infectives (24%). Histological examination in chronic patients demonstrated two cases with ductal lesion and seven with cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS One year is the best cut-off point to define chronic DILI or prolonged recovery, with risk factors being older age, dyslipidemia and severity of the acute episode. Statins are distinctly related to chronicity. ALP and TB values in the second month could help predict chronicity or very prolonged recovery. LAY SUMMARY Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) patients who do not resolve their liver damage during the first year should be considered chronic DILI patients. Risk factors for DILI chronicity are older age, dyslipidemia and severity of the acute episode. Chronic DILI is not a very common condition; normally featuring mild liver profile abnormalities and not being an important clinical problem, with the exception of a small number of cases of early onset cirrhosis.

Proton-pump inhibitors adverse effects: a review of the evidence and position statement by the Sociedad Española de Patología Digestiva.

INTRODUCTION In the last few years a significant number of papers have related the use of proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) to potential serious adverse effects that have resulted in social unrest. OBJECTIVE The goal of this paper was to provide a literature review for the development of an institutional position statement by Sociedad Española de Patología Digestiva (SEPD) regarding the safety of long-term PPI use. MATERIAL AND METHODS A comprehensive review of the literature was performed to draw conclusions based on a critical assessment of the following: a) current PPI indications; b) vitamin B12 deficiency and neurological disorders; c) magnesium deficiency; d) bone fractures; e) enteric infection and pneumonia; f) interactions with thienopyridine derivatives; e) complications in cirrhotic patients. RESULTS Current PPI indications have remained unchanged for years now, and are well established. A general screening of vitamin B12 levels is not recommended for all patients on a PPI; however, it does seem necessary that magnesium levels be measured at therapy onset, and then monitored in subjects on other drugs that may induce hypomagnesemia. A higher risk for bone fractures is present, even though causality cannot be concluded for this association. The association between PPIs and infection with Clostridium difficile is mild to moderate, and the risk for pneumonia is low. In patients with cardiovascular risk receiving thienopyridines derivatives it is prudent to adequately consider gastrointestinal and cardiovascular risks, given the absence of definitive evidence regardin potential drug-drug interactions; if gastrointestinal risk is found to be moderate or high, effective prevention should be in place with a PPI. PPIs should be cautiously indicated in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS PPIs are safe drugs whose benefits outweigh their potential side effects both short-term and long-term, provided their indication, dosage, and duration are appropriate.

Case Characterization, Clinical Features and Risk Factors in Drug-Induced Liver Injury.

Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) caused by xenobiotics (drugs, herbals and dietary supplements) presents with a range of both phenotypes and severity, from acute hepatitis indistinguishable of viral hepatitis to autoimmune syndromes, steatosis or rare chronic vascular syndromes, and from asymptomatic liver test abnormalities to acute liver failure. DILI pathogenesis is complex, depending on the interaction of drug physicochemical properties and host factors. The awareness of risk factors for DILI is arising from the analysis of large databases of DILI cases included in Registries and Consortia networks around the world. These networks are also enabling in-depth phenotyping with the identification of predictors for severe outcome, including acute liver failure and mortality/liver transplantation. Genome wide association studies taking advantage of these large cohorts have identified several alleles from the major histocompatibility complex system indicating a fundamental role of the adaptive immune system in DILI pathogenesis. Correct case definition and characterization is crucial for appropriate phenotyping, which in turn will strengthen sample collection for genotypic and future biomarkers studies.

Herbal and Dietary Supplement-Induced Liver Injuries in the Spanish DILI Registry

Background & Aims There have been increasing reports of liver injury associated with use of herbal and dietary supplements, likely due to easy access to these products and beliefs among consumers that they are safer or more effective than conventional medications. We aimed to evaluate clinical features and outcomes of patients with herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injuries included in the Spanish DILI Registry. Methods We collected and analyzed data on demographic and clinical features, along with biochemical parameters, of 32 patients with herbal and dietary supplement‐associated liver injury reported to the Spanish DILI registry from 1994 through 2016. We used analysis of variance to compare these data with those from cases of liver injury induced by conventional drugs or anabolic androgenic steroid‐containing products. Results Herbal and dietary supplements were responsible for 4% (32 cases) of the 856 DILI cases in the registry; 20 cases of DILI (2%) were caused by anabolic androgenic steroids. Patients with herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injury were a mean age of 48 years and 63% were female; they presented a mean level of alanine aminotransferase 37‐fold the upper limit of normal, 28% had hypersensitivity features, and 78% had jaundice. Herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injury progressed to acute liver failure in 6% of patients, compared with none of the cases of anabolic androgenic steroid‐induced injury and 4% of cases of conventional drugs. Liver injury after repeat exposure to the same product that caused the first DILI episode occurred in 9% of patients with herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injury vs none of the patients with anabolic androgenic steroid‐induced injury and 6% of patients with liver injury from conventional drugs. Conclusion In an analysis of cases of herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injury in Spain, we found cases to be more frequent among young women than older patients or men, and to associate with hepatocellular injury and high levels of transaminases. Herbal and dietary supplement‐induced liver injury is more severe than other types of DILI and re‐exposure is more likely. Increasing awareness of the hepatoxic effects of herbal and dietary supplements could help physicians make earlier diagnoses and reduce the risk of serious liver damage.

“Drug-Induced Liver Injury Clinical Consortia: a global research response for a worldwide health challenge”

The hepatic safety of drugs is a major concern of the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole process of drug development. Whereas the intrinsic toxicity of a few drugs will become evident during the early stages of this process (i.e. in cellular cultures or animal studies), for the bulk of hazardous medications, which will injure the liver in rare occasions, the hepatotoxicity profile may remain hidden in both preclinical and clinical phases. Actually, clinical trials are able to identify relatively common adverse reactions (i.e. occurring at a rate greater than 1 per 1000 exposed subjects), but are generally underpowered to detect the low incidence of idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI).[1] The multifactorial nature of the idiosyncratic chemical damage targeting the liver depends on the interaction of the drug physicochemical properties with the host factors that make the subjects susceptible on rare instances.[2] No reliable methods for accurately predicting the occurrence of toxic liver damage on a given individual are still available. Hence, information on the true hepatic safety profile for the bulk of drugs relies on observational studies and requires the exposure of hundreds of thousands of subjects once the medication reaches the market. If an ‘outbreak’ of reports of liver damage linked to a particular drug use were detected, regulatory measures, including warnings and withdrawals, to limit the number of affected individuals would follow. Nowadays, however, many old drugs with hepatotoxic potential still remain in therapeutic use either because their true risk figures have not been fully recognized or due to a favorable benefit/risk balance (i.e. flucloxacillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate). Until recently, hepatotoxicity had not received enough attention from the academic investigators due to its relative rarity and data on hepatotoxicity of drugs were mostly compiled by the pharmaceutical industry under restrictive access rules or were simply unavailable. Indeed, the absence of valid diagnostic biomarkers means that DILI remains a ‘diagnosis of exclusion’, which limits the ‘scientific’ accuracy of the information retrieved and may discourage investigators from being involved on this topic. All these limitations represent an important barrier for proper case identification and characterization as well as for the availability of consistent epidemiological data.

P1097 : Distinguishing drug induced autoimmune hepatitis from idiopatic autoimmune hepatitis

M30/CK18-cleavage staining, indicators of hepatocyte apoptosis. Indicators of oxidative stress, including the accumulation of 4-HNEprotein adducts and JNK phosphorylation, were also increased. In contrast, mice deficient in MLK3 were protected from ethanolinduced increases in plasma ALT/AST, pro-inflammatory cytokines and hepatic protein expression of RIP3. Ethanol-induced JNK phosphorylation and oxidative stress were also attenuated in MLK3deficient mice. However, MLK3-deficiency did not affect ethanolinduced steatosis or hepatocyte apoptosis. Conclusions: Taken together, these results suggest that MLK3 participates in the development of ethanol-induced oxidative stress, activation of JNK and induction of necroptotic programmed hepatocyte death. Pharmacological intervention of this pathway could be targeted as a potential therapeutic strategy to suppress necroptosis-induced inflammation and hepatocyte injury in patients with ALD.

Chronic liver injury induced by drugs and toxins: Drugs- and toxins-induced liver injury

Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) occurs in a small fraction of individuals exposed to drugs, herbs or dietary supplements and is a relatively rare diagnosis compared with other liver disorders. DILI can be serious, resulting in hospitalization and even life‐threatening liver failure, death or need for liver transplantation. Toxic liver damage usually presents as an acute hepatitis viral‐like syndrome or as an acute cholestasis that resolves upon drug discontinuation. However, un‐resolving chronic outcome after acute DILI can ensue in some subjects, the mechanisms and risk factors for this particular evolution being yet scarcely known. Furthermore, the definition of chronicity after acute DILI is controversial, regarding both the time frame of liver injury persistence and the magnitude of the abnormalities required. Besides this, in some instances the phenotypes and pathological manifestations are those of chronic liver disease at the time of DILI diagnosis. These include non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease, vascular lesions, drug‐induced autoimmune hepatitis, chronic cholestasis leading to vanishing bile duct syndrome and even cirrhosis, and some drugs such as amiodarone or methotrexate have been frequently implicated in some of these forms of chronic DILI. In addition, all of these DILI phenotypes can be indistinguishable from those related to other etiologies, making the diagnosis particularly challenging. In this manuscript we have critically reviewed the more recent data on chronicity in DILI with a particular focus on the epidemiology, mechanisms and risk factors of atypical chronic DILI phenotypes.

Drug-induced liver injury: a safety review

ABSTRACT Introduction: Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) remains one of the most important causes of drug attrition both in the early phases of clinical drug development and in the postmarketing scenario. This is because, in spite of emerging data on genetic susceptibility variants associated to the risk of hepatotoxicity, the precise identification of the individual who will develop DILI when exposed to a given drug remains elusive. Areas covered: In this review, we have addressed recent progress made and initiatives taken in the field of DILI from a safety perspective through a comprehensive search of the literature. Expert opinion: Despite the substantial progress made over this century, new approaches using big data analysis to characterize the true incidence of DILI are needed and to categorize the drugs’ hepatotoxic potential. Genetic studies have highlighted the role of the adaptive immune system yet the mechanisms leading adaptation versus progression remain to be elucidated. There is a compelling need for development and qualification of sensitive, specific, and affordable biomarkers in DILI to foster drug development, patient treatment stratification and, improvement of causality assessment methods. Gaining mechanistic insights in DILI is essential to uncover therapeutic targets and design prospective clinical trials with appropriate endpoints.