Abstract
Liver diseases emerge as a serious threat to humans worldwide due to increasing morbidity and mortality. Liver disease related deaths accounts for one third of all disease related death globally. A simple fatty liver if unattended advances further to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. During liver fibrogenesis, hepatic stellate cells gets activated into myofibroblast like cells and exhibit proliferative and fibrogenic features. Targeting these activated hepatic stellate cells offer promising therapeutic approach towards liver fibrosis management. To date there is no Food and Drug Administration approved treatments for liver fibrosis. However, a large number of clinical trials are being conducted employing monoclonal antibodies, drugs, dietary supplements and herbal medicines. A vast number of research findings demonstrated nutraceuticals to be effective against experimental liver fibrosis both in vitro and in vivo. Nutraceuticals typically regulate key signaling pathways in activated hepatic stellate cells and exhibit anti-fibrotic effect. In this review, the mechanistic action of nutraceuticals targeting activated hepatic stellate cells were summarized to establish them as a possible therapeutic candidate for liver fibrosis.
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Abbreviations
- α-SMA:
-
Alpha smooth muscle actin
- CCl4:
-
Carbon tetrachloride
- DEN:
-
Diethylnitrosamine
- ECM:
-
Extracellular matrix
- EGCG:
-
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate
- HSCs:
-
Hepatic stellate cells
- MASLD:
-
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease
- MMP:
-
Matrix metalloproteinase
- NF-κB:
-
Nuclear factor-κB
- PDGF:
-
Platelet-derived growth factor
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- TGF-β:
-
Transforming growth factor-β
- YAP:
-
Yes-associated protein
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Funding
The corresponding author sincerely acknowledge Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India for the award of Focused Basic Research project (MLP277) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India for the award of Ad-hoc project (GAP606; No: 5/4/8–10/OBS/MKP/2021-NCS-II dated 30.03.2021).
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VS: Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing–original draft, Writing-review and editing. VVP, VV, ABR, NV: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. MKP: Conceptualization; Writing–original draft; Writing-review and editing; Supervision; Funding acquisition; Project administration.
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Sekar, V., VP, V., Vijay, V. et al. Inhibition of hepatic stellate cell activation by nutraceuticals: an emphasis on mechanisms of action. J Food Sci Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-024-06002-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-024-06002-3