Hepatotoxicity of molecular targeted therapy

A constant increase in occurrence of neoplasms is observed; hence new methods of therapy are being intensively researched. One of the methods of antineoplastic treatment is molecular targeted therapy, which aims to influence individual processes occurring in cells. Using this type of medications is associated with unwanted effects resulting from the treatment. Liver damage is a major adverse effect diagnosed during targeted therapy. Drug-induced liver damage can occur as necrosis of hepatocytes, cholestatic liver damage and cirrhosis. Hepatotoxicity is evaluated on the basis of International Consensus Criteria. Susceptibility of the liver to injury is connected not only with toxicity of the used medications but also with metastasis, coexistence of viral infections or other chronic diseases as well as the patient’s age. It has been proven that in most cases the liver injury is caused by treatment with multikinase inhibitors, in particular tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered the inclusion of additional labels – so-called “black box warnings” – indicating increased risk of liver injury when treating with pazopanib, sunitinib, lapatinib and regorafenib. A meta-analysis published in 2013 showed that treating neoplastic patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitors can increase the risk of drug-induced liver damage at least twofold. Below the mechanisms of drug-induced liver injury and hepatotoxic effects of molecular targeted therapy are described.