Natural Compounds as Integrative Therapy for Liver Protection against Inflammatory and Carcinogenic Mechanisms: From Induction to Molecular Biology Advancement

Abstract

Liver is exposed to several harmful substances that bear the potential to cause excessive liver damage ranging from hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to extreme cases of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver ailments have been effectively treated from very old times with Chinese medicinal herbal formulations and later also applied by controlled trials in Japan. However, these traditional practices have been hardly well characterized in the past till in the last decades when more qualified studies have been carried out. Modern advances have given rise to specific molecular target which are specifically good candidates for affecting the intricate mechanisms that play a role at the molecular level. These therapeutic regimens that mainly affect the progression of disease by inhibiting the gene expression levels or by blocking essential molecular pathways or released cytokines may prove to play a vital role in minimizing the tissue damage. This review therefore, tries to throw light upon the variation in the therapies for the treatment of benign and malignant liver disease from ancient times to the current date. Nonetheless, clinical research exploring the effectiveness of herbal medicines in the treatment of benign chronic liver diseases as well prevention and treatment of HCC are still warranted.

The Influence of Diet and Its Components on the Development and Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

“…The non-metabolic causes of liver cell carcinogenesis relate to the intake of substances with mutagenic effects through diet, adversely affecting gene expression, and to engagement in a diet characterized by insufficient antioxidant potential [ 2 , 7 , 8 ]. As a result of these abnormalities, a diet lacking essential substances for detoxification and repair processes may promote the development of the cancer process [ 2 , 7 , 8 ].…”

Research progress on natural products against hepatocellular carcinoma

“…These research advances have made compounds extracted from natural products potential new therapies for many complex diseases, including inflammation, infectious and neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer [10]. Therefore, people began to study various components extracted from natural products and applied them in clinical trials [11].…”