Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 9;10(4):672.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10040672.

Hepatotropic Properties of SARS-CoV-2-Preliminary Results of Cross-Sectional Observational Study from the First Wave COVID-19 Pandemic

Hanna Wiśniewska  1 , Karolina Skonieczna-Żydecka  2 , Miłosz Parczewski  3 , Jolanta Niścigorska-Olsen  3 , Ewa Karpińska  1 , Monika Hornung  1 , Krzysztof Jurczyk  1 , Magdalena Witak-Jędra  3 , Łukasz Laurans  1 , Katarzyna Maciejewska  3 , Łukasz Socha  1 , Agnieszka Leonciuk  3 , Dorota Bander  1 , Malwina Karasińska-Cieślak  3 , Bogusz Aksak-Wąs  3 , Marta Wawrzynowicz-Syczewska  1
Affiliations

Hepatotropic Properties of SARS-CoV-2-Preliminary Results of Cross-Sectional Observational Study from the First Wave COVID-19 Pandemic

Hanna Wiśniewska et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Liver injury-expressed as elevated liver enzymes-is common in patients with COVID-19. Little is known about the potential mechanisms of liver damage by SARS-CoV-2. A direct cytopathic effect on hepatocytes as well as injury related to hypoxia or hepatotoxicity are being considered. The aim of the study was to compare the clinical characteristic of COVID-19 disease in patients with normal and abnormal liver enzymes activity. A group of 150 patients with COVID-19, hospitalized in our center, was analyzed. Patients with the known liver comorbidities were excluded (n = 15). Clinical features and laboratory parameters were compared between patients with normal and abnormal aminotransferase values. Liver injury expressed as any alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation was noted in 45.6% of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19. The frequencies of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) elevation were lower. It was noted that elevated ALT/AST unfavorably affected other parameters related to liver function such as albumin level; gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP); and partly, ALP activity and influenced inflammation-related parameters. The most probable cause of mild hepatitis during COVID-19 was anoxia and immune-mediated damage due to the inflammatory response following SARS-CoV-2 infection. A direct cytopathic effect of SARS-CoV-2 on hepatocytes, albeit less probable, can be considered as well. The use of potentially hepatotoxic drugs may contribute to liver damage.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 infection; liver dysfunction; liver enzyme abnormality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors report no relevant conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ALT (alanine aminotransferase) change over time by gender. Middle lines represent medians and central boxes stand for IQRs. Tx—treatment. Dots and squares represent outside and far out values.
Figure 3
Figure 3
AST (aspartate aminotransferase) change over time by gender. Middle lines represent medians and central boxes stand for IQRs. Tx-treatment. Dots and squares represent outside and far out values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guan W.J., Ni Z.Y., Hu Y., Liang W.H., Ou C.Q., He J.X., Liu L., Shan H., Lei C.L., Hui D.S.C., et al. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:1708–1720. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N., Zhang D., Wang W., Li X., Yang B., Song J., Zhao X., Huang B., Shi W., Lu R., et al. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:727–733. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Flisiak R., Horban A., Jaroszewicz J., Kozielewicz D., Pawłowska M., Parczewski M., Piekarska A., Simon K., Tomasiewicz K., Zarębska-Michaluk D. Management of SARS-CoV-2 infection: Recommendations of the Polish Association of Epidemiologists and Infectologists as of March 31, 2020. Pol. Arch. Intern. Med. 2020;130:352–357. - PubMed
    1. Guo Y.R., Cao D., Hong Z.S., Tan Y.-Y., Chen S.-D., Jin H.-J., Tan K., Wang D.-Y., Yan Y. The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak—An update on the status. Mil. Med. Res. 2020;7:11. doi: 10.1186/s40779-020-00240-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen J., Qi T., Liu L., Ling Y., Qian Z., Li T., Li F., Xu Q., Zhang Y., Xu S., et al. Clinical progression of patients with COVID-19 in Shanghai. China. J. Infect. 2020;80:e1–e6. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources