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World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2021; 13(11): 1677-1687
Published online Nov 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i11.1677
Role of immune dysfunction in drug induced liver injury
Chandrashekaran Girish, Sukumaran Sanjay
Chandrashekaran Girish, Sukumaran Sanjay, Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry 605006, India
Author contributions: Girish C and Sanjay S contributed equally to this work; Girish C planned the contents and edited the manuscript; Sanjay S reviewed the literature, wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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: Chandrashekaran Girish, MSc, PhD, Additional Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry 605006, India. gcnx@rediffmail.com
Received: April 3, 2021
Peer-review started: April 3, 2021
First decision: July 6, 2021
Revised: July 15, 2021
Accepted: September 16, 2021
Article in press: September 16, 2021
Published online: November 27, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: This review demonstrates the critical role of the immune system in the progression of drug-induced liver injury and also in determining the severity of the damage. Drugs affect the normal functioning of hepatocytes through several direct and indirect mechanisms leading to the dysfunctional immune response. The major effector cells in amplifying liver damage are Kupffer cells, monocytes and neutrophils. Genetic predispositions and environmental factors also make individuals vulnerable to immune dysfunction.