Semin Liver Dis 2018; 38(01): 021-040
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1623518
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Hepatic Damage by Natural Remedies

Raul J. Andrade
1   Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Aparato Digestivo, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
2   Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Madrid, Spain
,
Inmaculada Medina-Caliz
3   Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
,
Andres Gonzalez-Jimenez
3   Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
,
Miren Garcia-Cortes
1   Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Aparato Digestivo, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
2   Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Madrid, Spain
,
M. Isabel Lucena
2   Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Madrid, Spain
3   Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
4   Unidad Investigación Clínica y Ensayos Clínicos (UICEC)-IBIMA, Plataforma Spanish Clinical Research Network, Spain
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
22 February 2018 (online)

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Abstract

The rising burden of herbal and dietary supplement hepatotoxicity (HILI) is a growing concern in Western countries. The estimated incidence of HILI in well-designed prospective studies ranges from less than 1 to 3 individuals per 100,000 inhabitants/year. Herbal hepatotoxicity has a particular signature encompassing female predominance, hepatocellular type of damage with markedly elevated transaminases on presentation, more common unintentional rechallenge, and a greater risk of death/liver transplantation. Herbal hepatotoxicity recognition is particularly challenging for hepatologists because of the often hidden herbal consumption, difficulties in identifying the causative herbal component, and the possibility of contamination, adulteration, and misidentification, which preclude a proper adjudication and lead to inaccurate reporting of cases in scientific journals. Collaborative efforts to retrieve detailed phenotypic data and biological samples of patients with HILI would facilitate genomic and other molecular approaches for a better understanding of host risk factors and, hopefully, for biomarker identification.

Financial Support

This study has been supported by grants of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III co-founded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – FEDER (contract numbers: PI15/01440) and by the Agencia Española del Medicamento. CIBERehd is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III.