Hepatotoxicity of agents used in the management of inflammatory bowel disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at risk for hepatobiliary disease and toxicity, and the diagnosis of drug-induced liver disease in patients being treated for IBD can represent a clinical challenge. There are a number of disease states associated with IBD, which are primary sclerosing cholangitis, cholangiocarcinoma and autoimmune hepatitis. There is a wide spectrum of hepatic injury that can occur from the agents used to treat IBD, such as acute or chronic hepatic injury directly attributable to the drugs used to treat IBD (e.g. sulfasalazine, mesalamine, thiopurines, methotrexate, TNF antagonists, quinolone antibiotics); liver toxicity from drugs used to treat complications of immunomodulators and TNF antagonists (e.g. isoniazid for treatment of reactivation tuberculosis), and exacerbation of underlying chronic viral hepatitis with infliximab and other TNF antagonists. Thiopurines are also associated with the development of hepatic vascular lesions, such as nodular regenerative hyperplasia and peliosis hepatic. In addition, biologics can be associated with the reactivation of underlying chronic viral hepatitis, mandating universal screening prior to initiation of TNF-alpha antagonist therapy.