How their liver cells detached – this tea was to blame

The woman actually only came to the Grenoble University Hospital for a check -up. But what the doctors found in their blood was worrying: catastrophic liver values. Above all, the massively increased mirror of a certain enzyme indicated that some of the liver cells began to dissolve.

It was not unusual that the patient had apparently not noticed any of this: liver damage is often only discovered late because the liver tissue is not pervaded by pain -conducting nerves.

The woman actually had a liver risk – because of a drug she took. She was a tumor patient, 48 years old, and suffered from a form of lung cancer with an unpleasant property: In the cancer cells, a gene was overactive that constantly drove the cells to produce too much of an enzyme from the group of tyrosine nasal. As long as things go well, these enzymes control the smooth signal transmission from body cell to body cell. Come out of the edge and the band, tyrosine nasal nasal also drive tumors ahead, as with this patient. In order to slow down the overactive Tyrosineinase, the woman had been prescribed an enzyme blocker after her chemotherapy. She swallowed the Tyrosinkinase inhibitor Crizotinib twice a day. In fact, this drug can also influence liver enzymes.

The doctors made ultrasound, but saw only a slight fatty liver. Other laboratory values ​​for viruses, parasites or autoimmune diseases remained unobtrusive. A liver biopsy was arranged for clarification. In the tissue removed, typical cell damage of hepatitis that is caused by medication were actually found. Was the tumor fault? But the woman swallowed Crizotinib for more than a year – and her liver values ​​had always been in the green. Only recently had an enzyme value shot dramatically. Incidentally, the Crizotinib mirror in the blood-although it had not changed the dosage. The Crizotinib value even increased two days after the woman had put the cancer off. What was going on in your body?

In the conversation, the patient told a new favorite drink: tea made of grated ginger with lemon juice and honey. For a few weeks now, she has often drank more than one liter a day. Ginger is considered to be anti -inflammatory and can alleviate nausea, but is also known for possible interactions with medicines: Heart patients who take blood thinners is more advisable by ginger because the plant is suspected of disturbing the coagulation. It is known from laboratory tests that ginger inhibits the liver’s detoxification systems – such as the enzyme CYP3A4, which also builds up Crizotinib.

Since the doctors were able to rule out other causes of hepatitis, they considered it very likely that the Crizotinib had attacked the liver after the ginger tea paralyzed the detoxification. The patient should first drop off both. After three months, her liver function had normalized. “Doctors and patients should be aware that interactions are possible between pharmaceutical plants and prescribed medication,” warn the authors in their case study, which appeared in the “British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology”.

This text first appeared in March 2023.