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World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2021; 27(22): 3022-3036
Published online Jun 14, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i22.3022
Liver injury in COVID-19: Detection, pathogenesis, and treatment
Yue Cai, Li-Ping Ye, Ya-Qi Song, Xin-Li Mao, Li Wang, Yan-Zhi Jiang, Wei-Tao Que, Shao-Wei Li
Yue Cai, Li-Ping Ye, Xin-Li Mao, Shao-Wei Li, Key Laboratory of Minimally Invasive Techniques & Rapid Rehabilitation of Digestive System Tumor of Zhejiang Province, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai 317000, Zhejiang Province, China
Yue Cai, Li-Ping Ye, Xin-Li Mao, Shao-Wei Li, Department of Gastroenterology, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai 317000, Zhejiang Province, China
Li-Ping Ye, Ya-Qi Song, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Li Wang, College of Basic Medicine, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot 010000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Yan-Zhi Jiang, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200000, China
Wei-Tao Que, Department of Surgery, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200000, China
Author contributions: All authors drafted the manuscript and contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript; all authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Supported by Program of Taizhou Science and Technology Grant, No. 20ywb29; Medical Health Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province, No. 2021PY083, and No. 2019KY239; Key Technology Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province, No. 2019C03040; and Major Research Program of Taizhou Enze Medical Center Grant, No. 19EZZDA2.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shao-Wei Li, PhD, Academic Fellow, Assistant Professor, Associate Research Scientist, Instructor, Key Laboratory of Minimally Invasive Techniques & Rapid Rehabilitation of Digestive System Tumor of Zhejiang Province, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, No. 150 Xinmen Street, Linhai 317000, Zhejiang Province, China. li_shaowei81@hotmail.com
Received: January 24, 2021
Peer-review started: January 24, 2021
First decision: March 7, 2021
Revised: March 24, 2021
Accepted: April 21, 2021
Article in press: April 21, 2021
Published online: June 14, 2021
Processing time: 134 Days and 18.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has assumed pandemic proportions, and has resulted in several hundred thousand deaths globally. Although the lung is the main organ that is damaged in COVID-19, approximately 60% of the patients have been reported to develop various degrees of liver injury in several studies. Accumulating clinical data show that liver damage is related to the severity of COVID-19 and is a major cause of death from COVID-19, especially in the presence of hepatic failure. The exact cause of liver injury in patients with COVID-19 remains unclear and the specific underlying mechanism(s) need to be elucidated.