Liver injury during highly pathogenic human coronavirus infections

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), the pathogen of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has posed a serious threat to global public health. The WHO has declared the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection an international public health emergency. Lung lesions have been considered as the major damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, liver injury has also been reported to occur during the course of the disease in severe cases. Similarly, previous studies have shown that liver damage was common in the patients infected by the other two highly pathogenic coronavirus - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus…