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RandomFactor writes:

Treatments that increase levels of the protein Thromobspondin-1 could help livers to recover from an overdose of Acetaminophen.

While safe at therapeutic levels, overdose of candy-like Acetaminophen taken accidentally or intentionally to harm oneself, "is the leading cause of quickly-developing — or acute — liver failure in the U.S." Sadly, this can lead into liver transplant and a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs.

[Matthew McMillin, PHD.], an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin and research biologist at Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, will present the research at the American Society for Investigative Pathology annual meeting during the 2019 Experimental Biology meeting to be held April 6-9 in Orlando, Fla.

McMillin and his colleagues found that mice with acute liver failure from acetaminophen toxicity had higher levels of thrombospondin-1 than mice with normal liver function. When they administered acetaminophen to genetically modified mice that lack thrombospondin-1, the liver injury and loss of liver function was more severe compared to unmodified mice. The researchers also observed impaired liver regeneration and increased cell death in the mice without thrombospondin-1.

According to McMillin, "We were able to identify cell communication pathways that do not work properly during acetaminophen-induced liver injury and thus lead to worse outcomes."

The only current remedy for acute Acetaminophen overdose, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) or 'Acetadote', must be taken early, before the liver is damaged.

Acetylcysteine protects against acetaminophen overdose-induced hepatotoxicity by maintaining or restoring hepatic concentrations of glutathione. It does this by producing the glutathione precursor L-cysteine. Glutathione is required to inactivate an intermediate metabolite (N-acetyl-p-benzoquinoneimine or NAPQI) of acetaminophen that is thought to be hepatotoxic.

Remember to keep drugs well out of reach of small children and as they get older and self medicate, consider stacking the odds in their favor with less tasty, overdose- and damage-prone pain relievers.

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