ABSTRACT
Most drugs capable of causing severe liver injury do so on an idiosyncratic basis. Charac-
teristics of idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) include lack of a clear dose
relationship and occurrence in a small subset of treated patients. A reasonable but as yet
unproven hypothesis is that the main factors or “traits” that render this subset of patients
susceptible are inherited (i.e., genetic). We will first discuss general approaches and challenges
to DILI genetic association studies. Wewill then summarize the data obtained in studies to date.
We will also discuss reasons why these investigations have met with limited success and why
studies in the near future may be more fruitful.
