ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). At present, the COVID-19 has been prevalent worldwide for more than a year and caused more than four million deaths. Liver injury was frequently observed in patients with COVID-19. Recently, a new definition of metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) was proposed by a panel of international experts, and the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 has been actively investigated. Several previous studies indicated that the patients with MAFLD had a higher prevalence of COVID-19 and a tendency to develop severe type of respiratory infection, and others indicated that liver injury would be exacerbated in the patients with MAFLD once infected with COVID-19. The mechanism underlying the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 infection has not been thoroughly investigated, and recent studies indicated that multifactorial mechanisms, such as altered host angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor expression, direct viral attack, disruption of cholangiocyte function, systemic inflammatory reaction, drug-induced liver injury, hepatic ischemic and hypoxic injury, and MAFLD-related glucose and lipid metabolic disorders, might jointly contribute to both of the adverse hepatic and respiratory outcomes. In this review, we discussed the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 based on current available literature, and summarized the recommendations for clinical management of MAFLD patients during the pandemic of COVID-19.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use , COVID-19/complications , Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/complications , Hypoxia/complications , Liver/metabolism , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/complications , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , Age Factors , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/genetics , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/metabolism , COVID-19/pathology , COVID-19/virology , Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/drug therapy , Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/pathology , Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/virology , Cytokines/genetics , Cytokines/metabolism , Dipeptides/therapeutic use , Gene Expression Regulation , Glucose/metabolism , Glycyrrhizic Acid/therapeutic use , Humans , Hypoxia/drug therapy , Hypoxia/pathology , Hypoxia/virology , Liver/drug effects , Liver/pathology , Liver/virology , Lung/drug effects , Lung/metabolism , Lung/pathology , Lung/virology , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/drug therapy , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/pathology , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/virology , Receptors, Virus/genetics , Receptors, Virus/metabolism , Severity of Illness Index , COVID-19 Drug TreatmentABSTRACT
Hepatitis-associated aplastic anaemia (HAAA) is a rare condition characterised by onset of acute hepatitis which is followed by development of severe pancytopenia due to bone marrow failure within 6 months. This syndrome can be precipitated by acute viral infections, but the aetiology remains unknown in the majority. Drug-induced HAAA is extremely rare and has been reported with nutritional and dietary supplements in current literature. We report the first cases of ayurvedic herbal and homeopathic remedies-associated HAAA in two patients which proved fatal in both. Evaluation of patients with acute hepatitis and severe pancytopenia must include a detailed evaluation for complementary and alternative medicine use.