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Review
. 2021 Mar 9:8:639674.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.639674. eCollection 2021.

Cholestasis-Associated Pruritus and Its Pruritogens

Jacqueline A G M Langedijk  1 , Ulrich H Beuers  1 , Ronald P J Oude Elferink  1
Affiliations
Review

Cholestasis-Associated Pruritus and Its Pruritogens

Jacqueline A G M Langedijk et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Pruritus is a debilitating symptom of various cholestatic disorders, including primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and inherited progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC). The molecular mechanisms leading to cholestasis-associated pruritus are still unresolved and the involved pruritogens are indecisive. As a consequence of pruritus, patients suffer from sleep deprivation, loss of daytime concentration, auto-mutilation and sometimes even suicidal ideations. Current guideline-approved therapy of cholestasis-associated pruritus includes stepwise administration of several medications, which may alleviate complaints in some, but not all affected patients. Therefore, also experimental therapeutic approaches are required to improve patients' quality of life. This article reviews the current state of research on pruritogens and their receptors, and shortly discusses the most recent experimental therapies.

Keywords: autotaxin; bile formation; cholestasis; cholestasis-associated pruritus; itch; pruritogen.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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