COVID-19 and hepatic injury: cellular and molecular mechanisms in diverse liver cells

Table 1 Explore the main causes of liver injuries during COVID-19

Cause of liver injury	The main finding of the study	Ref.
	SARS-CoV-2 directly invades the liver and displays hepatic impairment characterized by liver enzyme abnormalities	Wang et al[84], 2020
SARS-CoV-2 tropism	Intrahepatic SARS-CoV-2 contributes to liver inflammation, endothelium, and bile duct damage	Fiel et al[97], 2021
	SARS-CoV-2 cytopathic effect involved in the rapid progression of acute liver injury to acute liver failure	Melquist et al[98], 2020
Cytokine storm	Elevation of liver enzymes in COVID-19 is mainly related to immune dysregulation caused by cytokine storm and hepatic damage	Li et al[106], 2020
	Systemic inflammation is the fuel for hepatic injury in COVID-19 patients	Effenberger et al[244], 2021
Hypoxic liver injury	Hypoxic hepatitis is not a rare condition in COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit and is dramatically associated with elevated liver enzymes	Huang et al[117], 2020
	Hepatic artery thrombosis is highly associated with hepatic injury and abdominal pain during COVID-19	Antunes de Brito et al[124],2021
	SARS-CoV-2 induces severe disruption of the intrahepatic blood vessel and also affects the endothelial layer of blood vessels	Sonzogni et al[125], 2020
Endothelial cells and liver injury	Hepatic injury is attributed to platelet-fibrin microthrombi in the hepatic sinusoids along with some portal vein platelet aggregates	Rapkiewicz et al[126], 2020
	SARS-CoV-2 activates IL-6/JAK/STAT pathway consequently, stimulating coagulopathy and hepatic epitheliopathy	McConnell et al[139], 2021

SARS-CoV-2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019; IL-6: Interleukin-6; JAK: Janus kinases; STAT: Signal transducer and activator of transcription proteins.