Drug Induced Liver Injury (DILI). Mechanisms and Medicinal Chemistry Avoidance/Mitigation Strategies

J Med Chem. 2020 Oct 22;63(20):11397-11419. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00524. Epub 2020 Jun 19.

Abstract

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a common cause of attrition in drug discovery and development and drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a leading cause of preclinical and clinical drug terminations. This perspective outlines many of the known DILI mechanisms and assessment methods used to evaluate and mitigate DILI risk. Literature assessments and retrospective analyses using verified DILI-associated drugs from the Liver Tox Knowledge Base (LTKB) have been used to derive the predictive value of each end point, along with combination approaches of multiple methods. In vitro assays to assess inhibition of the bile salt export pump (BSEP), mitotoxicity, reactive metabolite (RM) formation, and hepatocyte cytolethality, along with physicochemical properties and clinical dose provide useful DILI predictivity. This Perspective also highlights some of the strategies used by medicinal chemists to reduce DILI risk during the optimization of drug candidates.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / prevention & control*
  • Drug Discovery / methods*
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Hepatocytes / drug effects
  • Hepatocytes / metabolism
  • Hepatocytes / pathology
  • Humans
  • Liver / drug effects*
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Liver / pathology
  • Mitochondria, Liver / drug effects
  • Mitochondria, Liver / metabolism
  • Mitochondria, Liver / pathology
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations* / chemistry
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations* / metabolism
  • Risk Assessment
  • Tissue Distribution

Substances

  • Pharmaceutical Preparations