The Role of Cytochrome P450s in Drug-Induced Liver Disease

I. INTRODUCTION Chemical-induced liver injury usually does not result from the direct effects of the parent compound. Rather, toxicity generally results from conversion of the parent molecule to toxic metabolites within the liver (reviewed in refs. 1,2). This statement applies not just to drugs, but also to environmental chemicals, such as aflatoxins, bromobenzene, and carbon tetrachloride. The major family of liver enzymes implicated in generating potentially toxic metabolites from drugs are the cytochromes P450.