Hepatic dysfunction in multiple diseases is characterized by abnormal levels of liver enzymes and hepatomegaly. Apart from viruses, alcohol, and drug-induced liver injury, a variety of non-liver diseases can cause liver dysfunction, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, short bowel syndrome, and thyroid diseases.

Several epidemiological studies have shown that liver dysfunction often occurs at the stage of disease progression and is an important indicator of disease severity. For example, thyroid storm can lead to acute liver dysfunction and disseminated intravascular coagulation. In addition, because of the liver’s importance in removing drugs from the body, diseases or injuries that impair liver function can affect how some drugs interact with the body. Thus, uncovering the underlying crosstalk between hepatic dysfunction and related diseases has significantly advanced our understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. In addition, existing omics data resources (such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), together with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and network-based approaches, hold great promise for molecular biomarker identification, elucidation of pathological mechanisms, and therapeutic discovery in various complex diseases related to hepatic dysfunction.

This Special Issue aims to showcase the application of advanced data mining in drug discovery and mechanism elucidation, as well as molecular biomarker identification, in regard to complex diseases due to hepatic dysfunction. This Special Issue will focus on recent advances in the utilization of interdisciplinary technologies to overcome the challenges and obstacles for disease pathobiology and therapeutic discovery in hepatic dysfunction-related diseases. We welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Application of real-world data in predicting disease/environmental risk factors
• Application of real-world data in efficacy evaluation of dietary intake or existing drugs for hepatic dysfunction-related diseases
• Uncovering the pathological mechanisms of disease and exploring the molecular mechanisms of drug candidates through the integration of multimodal omics data
• Multi-omics analysis of the crosstalk between the immune system and metabolic pathways in the liver
• Identification of disease-related molecular biomarkers via data mining or bioinformatics analysis
• Systems pharmacology for drug discovery or elucidating underlying mechanisms against diseases related to hepatic dysfunction