Study from Hamburg
Covid-19 infection can cause liver damage
Corona can damage the liver. Hamburg researchers found elevated liver values in Covid 19 patients.
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A large study by the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf shows that a corona infection can also damage the liver. Long-term consequences are still unclear.
Early in the pandemic, it was already shown that Sars-CoV-2 can not only attack the lungs, but also organs such as the kidneys and heart. In an international study, researchers at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have now found that Covid-19 can also damage the liver. The study was published in the journal “Nature Metabolism”.
In Covid 19 patients, doctors often noticed elevated liver values in severe cases. UKE scientists have now investigated the extent to which the coronavirus is responsible and whether the virus can damage the liver directly. The result: almost 60 percent of the approximately 1,200 corona patients examined had elevated liver values when they were admitted to the hospital. Only a few of the patients were previously known to have liver diseases that could possibly be the cause of the high liver values.
The researchers also conducted an autopsy study. In 45 people who died of Covid-19, the coronavirus could be detected in the liver in two thirds of the cases – some of it still as an active pathogen.
Possible late effects on the liver from Corona
The researchers think it is possible that the viruses can penetrate the liver via so-called ACE2 receptors. The corona infection can change the cell programs in the liver. This can have consequences for the metabolism, similar to hepatitis. The liver performs important metabolic functions. The organ stores, for example, sugar, fats and protein building blocks and releases sugar into the blood in the form of glucose when required. Liver cells can convert fats and proteins into sugar. The Hamburg researchers fear that some Covid 19 patients could experience late damage to the liver.
“These results again underline how diverse the potential damage mechanisms in Covid-19 are. It is to be feared that we will see more Covid-19 complications in organs such as the liver and kidneys in the coming years and decades,” explained study leader Prof. Tobias B. Huber, Director of the Medical Clinic and Polyclinic of the UKE. With the study results, it should be borne in mind that the patients examined became so ill with Sars-CoV-2 that they had to be treated in hospital or died. Researchers from UKE partner institutions in Freiburg, Heidelberg and the USA were also involved in the study.
Hamburg researchers from the UKE had already shown in an earlier study that people with milder courses can suffer organ damage to the heart, lungs or kidneys. However, it is unclear whether the damage to the oranges is long-term or will recede after a few months. A team from the University of Oxford recently found in a study that a corona infection can cause the brain to shrink.
Swell:Nature Metabolism, Communication UKE