A Benesic et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2018; 16: 1488-94. This prospective study found that monocyte-derived hepatocyte-like (MH) cells isolated from patients could be used to test and identify drugs that triggered acute liver injury.  Among 40 patients, 13 patients had 10 drugs identified which were toxic to MH cells.  Overall, they reported the MH test as having a 92% sensitivity and 100% specificity.

I Medina-Caliz et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2018; 16: 1495-1502. Using the Spanish DILI registry (1994-2016), the authors identified 32 of 856 cases of DILI that were due to dietary supplements.  Patients were more often female (63%), and had a mean ALT level 37-fold above ULN.  3 patients (9.4%) progressed to acute liver failure. Many of these supplements were promoted as helpful for weight loss. The authors speculate that reported cases of DILI due to herbal supplements are ‘the tip of the iceberg’ due to under-reporting of cases.

Related blog posts:

• Advice on drug-induced liver disease
• Liver toxicity -where to look online | gutsandgrowth
• More data on DILI | gutsandgrowth
• Data on Drug-Induced Liver Injury | gutsandgrowth
• Predicting a Bad End in Drug-Induced Liver Injury | gutsandgrowth
• Liver Problems with Inflammatory Bowel Disease | gutsandgrowth
•  Web is Better: Liver Toxicity from Herbs | gutsandgrowth
• Teaching an Old Drug New Tricks | gutsandgrowth

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